


Captain America: A Timeless Love

by waterwriter144



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-09-06
Packaged: 2018-08-09 01:54:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 35,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7782325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterwriter144/pseuds/waterwriter144
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(takes place after AOU) Steve and his Avenger Team were on a simple Hydra mission, but they underestimated them. Steve finds himself throw back in time by Hydra tech to SHIELD's creation, 1947. Hydra wants revenge, they plan to destroy SHIELD before it even exists. Steve reunites with Howard and the love of his life, Peggy Carter. Together they will end Hydra once more, save Bucky and finally get that dance. LOTS OF STEGGY MATURE FLUFF!!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Revival

Captain America: The Timeless Love  
(Story Note: This story will mainly follow the Marvel Movie Universe Canon. It will take place after Avengers: Age of Ultron. Since this is a story about time travel, shit gets very complicated with keeping universes intact. So ill keep this story simple and easy. Plus I suck at titles, just read the meat and ignore my cheesy titles. There will be lots of Steve and Peggy fluff which is the original intention of this story. I did a lot of research and a lot of comic book diving just to figure out how Steve and Peggy could bang each other in a canon Marvel Universe way involving time travel. Enjoy this “new” Marvel Universe I kinda just opened up for the sake of fuckable romance for my favorite Marvel ship of all time.)

Summary: Steve Rogers gets transported back in time to the 1940s. The goal of this story is to have a sappy happy ending for Captain America, Peggy Carter and Bucky Barnes.  
Warning: Rated M for sexual themes, violence, language!

 

Chapter 1 Revival

  
“Everyone into position?” Captain Rogers whispered as he touched his ear piece. He scanned his visual surroundings looking for the rest of his team.  
“I got eyes in the air, the base is just up to your 10 o’clock. I count 8 life readings. 2 outside, 6 on the in.” Sam Wilson responded over their radio. Steve briefly caught the Falcon looming in the thick fog above him.

  
“Alright, we go in fast and quiet.” Captain broke into a light jog, the piney wet earth squished under his boots. “We don’t wanna scare anyone inside and send them sprawling out thru this forest.”

  
“Yeah the terrain is so dense, no wonder no one found this place.” Romanoff retorted. “Hiding right around DC in Anacostia Park, like little moles.” The Black Widow could spot Cap trotting towards the base’s location, she picked up the pace as well coming in from the left flank.

  
“Moles do best underground, I doubt they vould run. Not like they vould make it far.” Wanda responded, coming up on Steve’s right flank.

  
“Well we cant get too cocky Wanda, Hydra’s leaked intel about this special research department was very vague. We don’t know what we’re about to face.” Steve peaked his head over a bush and could see an old fire watch tower. The wood looked very faded and old, the structure beams could use some work. Definitely not a government funded fire watch tower.

  
“I got two guards in the tower. Want me to take em out Cap?” Sam reported.

  
“Gas em, we don’t want anyone raising a red flag before we find our way in.” The other three held position as they watched Sam fly by the tower’s edge and threw in a sleeping gas grenade.

  
“Speaking of red flags, how was that date with Lillian from accounting?” Romanoff’s voice chimed in on the radio. “I saw what she was wearing, yikes. It screamed…..”

  
“Is this….really the appropriate segway to be discussing my dating life? And plus how do you know what she was wearing?” Cap shook his head.

  
“Oh cmon I’m sure Sam and Wanda wanna hear this.”

  
Wanda giggled, “Lillian? Sounds like a cat lady’s name.”

  
“Well with a job as boring as accounting, 5 cats would be a welcoming life.” Romanoff smirked.

  
“She’s not……” Cap sighed, “She was just too reserved.”

  
“Definitely cat lady material.”

  
Sam cut off the conversation by flying into the tower, the gas had done its effect of knocking out the 2 guards. “Alright I’m in, opening up the main door.” With a buzzing sound followed by a screeching metallic door, a secret opening appeared right below the fire watch tower hidden within the tall grass. “And for the record, my great aunt owned like 9 cats and had like 3 husbands.”

  
“Well, I rest my case.” Romanoff approached the opening first. It was a steep well with a rusty metal ladder. One by one the team of four descended down into the dark bunker.

The air was thick and musty, the cement walls were coated with corrosion and moss. This place had definitely been here for a long time. Cap led the team down thru the hall, down a dizzying set of stairs and to some heavy metal doors. Romanoff stepped forward towards the door’s keypad. With a few minutes of button mashing, Natasha was able to work her magic and the door automatically opened. “Strange, even the technology is ancient, that’s a keypad from like the 60s.”

  
The Avengers entered thru the blast doors with their arms at the ready for an attack, but all was quiet. As they entered the giant room, their feet echoed thru, making their presence known. Large computers filled the room, humming with some life.

  
“Much like their base back in New Jersey eh Steve?” Romanoff scanned the room with her hand hovering over her holstered pistol.

  
“Yeah old tech and disconnected from any main Hydra operations.” Captain America studied the layers of dust on the keyboards, they had been used recently. There were also blueprints plastered over some of the bare walls. As he walked towards the center of the room he noticed an unusual design on the floor. It looked like a man sized disk with lots of tech wired all around it as well as some foreign written characters drawn into the metal.

  
“Ahhhh Cap.” Sam called out. He was on the other side of the room looking at some green tubes that were bubbling with water. Steve squinted to see that there was something in the tubes, some very odd things. There were a few toes in one tube, a partial arm in another and what looked like part of a face in the last one. The 4 stared at the oddity of the tubes, until the arm began to twitch. Wanda gasped and took a step back.

  
“These three body parts are all cut from the same person.” Romanoff pointed out, “Notice the unusual redness hue of the skin ton……” She was cut off by the sound of men shouting.

  
5 armed Hydra soldiers came bursting thru another entrance into the room, they drew their weapons on them and shouted commands in German. Steve took the first defense and drew his shield forward. He motioned Wanda to stay behind him.

  
“Captain America. It is wonderful to finally meet you again.” A voice came from the other entrance. An old man in a remote controlled wheelchair glided into the room. He must have been about 90 years old and he looked like he hadn’t seen the sun in several decades. Steve noted that he had a Russian accent. “Don’t worry there is no need for violence, cmon on now men withdraw your weapons. Beruhigen.” Slowly the guards lowered their weapons and remained still.

  
The Avengers loosened up a bit.

  
The old man wheeled up closer to the team, he smiled humbly at them. “I never thought I’d live to see the day when I would meet you again Captain.”  
Steve lowered his shield, “You know me?”

  
“Yes, we met. Oh yes we did. I was once a young scientist who was among the elite group of intellects of Hydra. A master of the art of mixing science and magic. I use to stand by Red Skull’s side. But that was a long time ago and look at us now, or rather look at me. A very long time ago that was. And yet, we are still stuck in the same conflict.” The old man gestured out a bony finger. “You single handily destroyed the Hydra that was hidden beneath SHIELD and destroyed Project Insight.”

  
The old man looked down at his watch and smiled, he then turned his chair around and went to one of the computers. “If everything was going according to plan, those Helicarriers would be up in the skies right now. It would have already killed people like you by the millions.”

  
“Then what are you doing here? Hiding? We disbanded all Hydra bases of operation and you seem to be the last one.” Captain America could tell that his old man was stalling. If he wasn’t so eager to fight then he was only prolonging the inevitable.

  
“This is true. But that’s what this base is all about. I was to research and carry out Project Last Hope.” The old man pressed a bottom which made the ceiling open up. The morning light shined thru, illuminating the metal center of the room. “If everything had gone according to plan, the Helicarriers would have killed everyone on the planet who was unworthy of Hydra. And with all political leaders and governments destroyed, a new one would take its place. Tell me Captain Steve Rogers.” The old man turned to smile at the star spangled hero. “When was the last time you saw Johann Schmidt?”

  
A shiver ran down his spine, “He was consumed by the power of the Tesseract. The poor bastard got to greedy and flew too close to the sun.” Captain America didn’t like where this was going.

  
The old man laughed, “You think that’s what happened but I would have to prove you wrong. You’ve seen it with your own eyes. A portal to another place in another galaxy. That’s what the Tesseract is a portal, not a weapon.”

  
“Well I saw the Red Skull get disintegrated by that thing, as I’ve seen many of my own men as well. Listen Doc, there’s no point in arguing. You are outnumbered and outmatched here, give up now and we can make this easy.” Steve felt a tug on his sleeve. He turned to see Wanda, her face was white.

  
She swallowed, “I feel something coming.”

  
The old man laughed as he stared at his watch. “Outnumbered? Outmatched? Oh I love proving you wrong.” The morning sun was soon covered up by thunderous dark clouds, shrouding the room into darkness once more. The old man’s laugh echoed in the lab. The 5 guards holstered their weapons and all took a knee before the metallic center piece of the room. The metal glowed a bright blue, similar to the glow of the Tesseract.

  
“That’s not possible! The Tesseract is safe in Asgard! Another dimension!” Nastasha took several steps back, motioning Sam to do the same.

  
“You think there’s only one form the Tesseract can take?! I’ll prove you wrong again!” The old man chuckled.

  
The room intensified with electricity and the familiar blueish glow. With a roaring thunderous clap, the metal center blasted to life with a bright white light, blinding the 4 heroes. Perched right in the middle of the center was a naked red body. A blue glow came from the body’s hand, a small blue gem around a silver band embraced around the finger. And then the finger twitched. The red body stood up. Captain America lowered his shield from the blinding light and stared dumbfounded at the man who appeared from the beam of light. It was Johann Schmidt, the Red Skull. His body looked massive, large muscles, pulsing veins, lean flesh. His face was the dead giveaway about how old he really was. There were more wrinkles, but he certainly looked more powerful than he remembered.

  
The Red Skull opened up his deep sunken eyes. He looked down at his hands, and then his feet. “Dr. Braunein. It appears that together we have finally mastered a full transformation. I’m no longer just a torso like I was last time.” Schmidt’s voice was deeper and more confident than Steve remembered. The Red Skull scanned the room and he froze to see that familiar Star Spangled Shield. His immediate reaction was a burst of laughter. A dark echoing cackle. “Captain Steve Rogers. My my. The Doctor was telling me how you stupidly crashed my ship into the Atlantic, froze your ass and woke up 70 years later. He also told me that you are working for SHIELD.”

  
The old man interjected by raising a black coat and pants for the Red Skull to adorn. “Ah sir, if I may catch you up to date. Captain Rogers …”

  
“Oh I know. I know about what happened to Project Insight and the disbandment of Hydra.” The Red Skull accepted the clothes.

  
Sam Wilson glanced at Rogers and then to Schmidt, “Cap what’s going on? Who is this guy?”

  
“The founder of Hydra during World War 2.” Romanoff’s eyes were white with fear. It was a sight Sam had never seen from her before and it scared him. “He has the same abilities as Steve.”

  
Wanda shook her head, “No, he has an energy about him that is not like Steve’s at all. It is beyond even my level of power.”

  
The Red Skull chuckled silently at their comments. After tugging firmly on the collar of his coat, he turned on his heels to face Captain America. He held up his hand, “I’m not usually one for jewelry, but to answer your burning question Steven, I’m here because of this. Its called the Cosmic Ring. A high concentration of the Tesseract’s power. Little did I know that upon touching the Tesseract that I would be disintegrated and have my molecules spread out in 2 different galaxies. Galaxies that I never knew existed until I remained there for about 15 years trying to build by body back together. Molecule by molecule. Turns out old Abraham Erskine’s Super Serum combined with the power of Tesseract allowed myself to fully regenerate and withstand the climate of space. I discovered that I could use the Cosmic Ring to travel thru space. I made it my mission to return back to earth, to finish what I started. And kill you.” Schmidt paced across the floor, “My first attempts getting to earth were challenging, mastering the art of teleportation over the stretch of 30 galaxies took years and several failed attempts.” He gestured to the green tubes behind them. “Eventually Dr. Braunein discovered my body parts and knew it was a sign, a sign for my eventual return to Hydra. Over the last decade of trying and failing to get my whole body together here, Dr. Braunein has told me about you. In between my screams of pain of having my body split into different galaxies, he told me all about your recovery from the ice, your run in with the Tesseract, your disobedience with SHIELD, your discovery of the Winter Solider and your dismantling of my empire.”

  
The Red Skull shook his head, the room was silent. A twisted smile creeped across his face, “You may have been frozen in ice for 70 years, but I have been plotting for 70 years for my revenge on you.”

  
With quick speed, faster than Captain America, the Red Skull charged forward and punched Steve’s Shield. The force of the blow, knocked Steve several feet back. Sam responded by taking flight and dropping down for an aerial kick attack. The Red Skull easily grabbed Sam’s leg in mid air and threw him across the room with only one hand. Natasha drew her guns and fired at Red Skull’s head, he flinched at the bullets as they impacted his skull, but he didn’t seem to mind the pain. He charged forward at Romanoff and the two engaged in a brief hand to hand combat. Clearly the Red Skull had the upper hand both in strength and speed. Within 5 moves he was able to grab hold of Romanoff’s throat and began squeezing. She wheezed and punched his inner elbow but to no avail. Cap’s shield lunched into the Red Skull’s stomach, making him drop Romanoff. She gasped for air.

  
Just like old times, Captain America and the Red Skull were engaged in a fist fight. Steve could see that Schmidt’s fighting style was sloppy. It had been decades since he sparred with anyone, but clearly he was outweighing Steve in strength. His blows knocked him off his feet, his kicks broke a few of his ribs, his stance was overpowering.  
“Ha I thought you would have gotten better over the years.” The Red Skull threw a massive upper cut to Steve’s jaw, making him spin off his feet. He got up on his elbows and spit out some blood. Steve looked over at Wanda, she was cowering in a corner of a room. She barely had any combat training other than that fight with Ultron and a few small Hydra missions.

  
For what was suppose to be a simple research team extraction mission turned into something far out of their league.

  
“Wanda go! Go get Tony and Vision!” Steve yelled out.

  
“Oh no, that wont work.” The Red Skull grabbed hold of Steve’s collar and yanked him to his feet. “You see Captain, beating you senseless isn’t my plot for revenge. Its too simple, too easy. And frankly I’m wasting time with it. Dr. Braunein, start up the systems.” Schmidt dragged Steve over to the metal center, the machine hummed to lift. The blue gem in Schmidt’s hand began to glow.

  
“Steve!” Natasha screamed, she got to her feet and raced towards Schmidt. She pounced on top of his shoulders and stabbed his face with her knife. Schmidt let out a startled scream. He used his free hand to grab Natasha’s waist and throw her off his back. She was flown across the room and landed on top of Sam. Schmidt grinned with the knife still lounged into his eye socket.

  
“I bid you elude Doctor, I’ll be seeing you…….in another time.” Electricity began to pulse around the circle, the blinding light returned. “You know Captain I haven’t tried this before. But it seems that you and I are out of place in this generation. What year is it Dr. Braunein?” The Red Skull craned his head over to the old man’s direction.

  
“2016 sir!” He called over the growing pulses of the machines.

  
“2016, how does 1947 sound to you Captain? The year that SHIELD was first founded. I must warn you, this may hurt quiet a lot so it would be best to hold your breath.” The Red Skull firmly took hold of Captain’s collar and the Cosmic Ring enveloped them both in a sphere of blue light.

  
“STEVE STEVE!” Sam called to the sphere of light, but within the blink of an eye the light vanished.

  
Pain overwhelmed Steve, it felt like his body was taking on an incredible G force. His skin vibrated and his bones rattled. In between passing out from the force, he could see the sphere moving their environment. Trees, buildings, cities passed them by. Even the sun and the moon rapidly ran across the sky overhead. The Red Skull chuckled at his struggle, blood still poured from his eye socket and his few bullet wounds on his head.

  
Then suddenly it all came to crashing halt. Steve was met with solid ground as Schmidt carelessly dropped him. Steve gasped for air like he got the wind knocked out of him. His head wouldn’t stop thumping, his hands trembled. His skin felt like he had severe road rash. All in all, it felt like he was hit with freight train. Multiple times.

 

The Red Skull loomed over him, barely fazed. He paced around smirking, “Ahhhhh, this feels like home doesn’t it Steve?”

  
Weakly Steve craned his head up from the dirt. He knew this dirt ground, he was all too familiar with it. Many a times he had face-planted in this soil when he was a younger man. He was in Camp Lehigh, New Jersey. But how was that possible, a nuke had destroyed the camp after Romanoff and he discovered the living remains of Doctor Armin Zola.  
“This is where the real fun begins. Where it all starts again for Hydra, I shall try again from the ashes of your loved ones.” The Red Skull gestured over to Steve’s right. From the distance he could see a couple of men dressed in suits all with hand guns drawn. Their attire was not similar to that of any “modern” assemble.  
The men began circling around the Red Skull and Captain America, a few stayed behind to stand guard behind an artillery bunker door.

  
“Gentlemen!” The Red Skull confidently stood before them.

  
“S.H.I.E.L.D. Stand down now! You are trespassing on private property!” One of the men shouted.

  
“No I think I’m right where I want to be.” Without a moment’s hesitation, the Red Skull lunged at the man and punched his face into the ground, killing the man instantly.  
The other guards immediately began firing at Schmidt, but to no avail. Bullets were just not affecting him. He gleamed his white teeth and began charging the other guards.

  
“No!” Steve couldn’t take it, no more men had to die, not SHIELD agents. Steve sprinted at Schmidt with all his force he had left in him, he was able to knock him to the ground. Captain threw a few punches to his face. He hammered Romanoff’s knife further into his eye socket. The Red Skull grunted in distain.

  
But the Red Skull had him outmatched in power, he placed his foot underneath Captain’s chest and shoved him off. Steve tumbled backwards, colliding with the guards. The men were able to catch Steve, they stared at him with disbelief. Their eyes were wide and they were rendered speechless.

  
“We need bigger guns and more men. You guys got any?” Steve grunted as he held his chest, yup that kick further broke his already broken ribs.

  
One of the men was already on it, with a walkie talkie in hand.

  
“I’ll keep him distracted. Keep the focus here. And then come in on all sides.” Steve got to his feet and staggered a bit. He readjusted the straps on his shield and prepared for possibly the most intense combat of his life.

  
“Sir?” The guard with the walkie talkie stopped him, “Director Carter would like you to prove your identity, and to be honest I’m having a hard time believing it myself sir.”

  
So he really was back in time, this was the original base of when SHIELD was first created. Peggy Carter was here, she was at this base. If he wasn’t in such immense pain, he would crack more of a smile. “Tell her that I still owe her that dance, I’ll be there 8 o’clock sharp this Friday.”

  
Without another word, Steve clenched his fist and staggered forward towards the Red Skull. He was prepared to give this fight his all.

  
Steve rushed at Schmidt and punched at him with his right hand. Schmidt countered as Steve expected, he followed thru with his left arm slicing at Schmidt with his shield. It impacted his chest and pushed him back. Schmidt grew angrier. With a swift motion he yanked the knife that was lodged in his eye socket by Romanoff and sliced back. The air filled with the sounds of metal whipping around, punches hitting shield, kicks and fists being dodged. Steve was gaining the ability to match Schmidt’s aggressive boxer style but certainly not his strength. Steve was getting hammered with his fists. If this fight continued, he would surely loose.

  
As Steve spat out another mouthful of blood, he became aware that he wasn’t gonna last much longer. His strength was failing him, it was becoming harder to think. His brain was still scrambled from the Cosmic Ring and the overwhelming feeling of being back in his era. It was too much, it was all too much. As Schmidt crackled once again at Steve, another sound blasted thru the air. Heavy artillery fire and convoys. Out of nowhere 5 large army jeeps with 10 men each came storming out from the bunker, tanks and a large artillery gun that had Stark’s name written all over it both in design and literally.

  
Steve rolled into a ball and took cover under his shield as the tanks and armed soldiers opened fire upon the fighting grounds. The air sprayed with dirt and fire, and the screams and grunts of Schmidt. Steve peaked over the edge of his shield to see that the bombardment of bullets had Schmidt down on his knees. The jeep carrying the large Stark weapon planted its anchors and prepared to fire. He could see a tiny man with a mustache jump to the controls of the massive gun. He was waving his arms and shouting. Steve took it as a signal to run. The gunfire decreased and Steve got to his feet and sprinted towards the jeeps. The Stark gun fired a blast of green and hit the Red Skull right in the chest. He howled in agony as his muscles began to contort and twist, shattering his bones in different places.

  
As Steve neared the Stark weapon, he could see 3 people manning the jeep. 3 very familiar faces. Faces he thought he’d never see again like this. Behind the wheel was Colonel Chester Philips. The man hoping down from the Stark weapon was his old dear friend and genius Howard Stark. And the woman in the passenger side ordering her men to stand down was her. Peggy Carter. All 3 of them were looking at him with different expressions of disbelief. Philips couldn’t stop blinking. Howard was smiling and shaking his head. And Peggy, she seemed very keen on getting out of the jeep. Her eyes never left his as she exited the vehicle and broke into a sprint towards him. Her eyes became more and more gentle the closer she got. Steve couldn’t tell if she was going to burst into tears or run up to him for an embrace. In fact he didn’t know if we would do either. He was so choked up he didn’t know how to respond.

  
Once Peggy was within a foot of him, without any kind of warning, she slammed him hard across the cheek with her hand. The slap echoed and it made all of her men flinch at the sound. Steve’s jaw, which already felt dislocated from all of Schmidt’s punches, definitely was broken after her hit.  
“You’re late.” Her voice trembled.

  
Steve gave a small chuckle, “Sorry, my ride crashed in the Atlantic and then a lot of crazy stuff happened after that.”

  
Gentle hands captured Steve’s face. Soft lips locked on to his. A lush warm relief overcame him, as if his broken body was healed in that one instant. It was just Peggy and him in that moment, united after such hardship and distance. Steve embraced her, holding her close. This whole fight felt like a bad dream, the return of the Red Skull and being transported back thru time. Peggy was his angel who would wake him up in the end of this bad dream.

  
They parted after what felt like minutes of an intense embrace. Steve could see the gleam in Peggy’s eyes, soft tears of joy threatened to fall. But her smile remained determine to stand strong.

  
“Hey Peg!” Howard shouted, shattering the moment. They both turned in his direction, he looked frightened as he pointed towards the Red Skull.

  
Schmidt, a limp broken mess, was struggling to get up. The Stark gun had broken nearly every bone in his body due to intense muscle contraction reaction. But the Cosmic Ring’s glow illuminated around his body, all his joints cracked back into place and the bones began to reset at an inhuman rate.

  
“Well that’s very abnormal.” Howard commented as he backed up towards the weapon.

  
As Schmidt set his bones back by hand, he began chuckling again. Steve was getting really tired of this joke. “Well Captain this couldn’t have played out more perfectly. Here I thought I could dig out the founders of SHIELD and wipe them out, but I’ve stumbled on something even more personal haven’t I?” He stood tall again, it looked like there was barely a scratch on him. “Soldaten, attacke!” He shouted angrily as he raised his hand.

  
On that command, several men from the 5 jeeps as well as 2 tanks turned their guns towards their fellow other soldiers and began opening fire. The startled soldiers scattered as several of their brothers fell at the hands of their mutinous comrades.

  
Colonel Phillips grabbed his shotgun and ducked for cover beside the jeep, “Son of a bitch!” He opened fire at some of his mutinous soldiers. Howard took cover behind his large Stark weapon. Steve threw his shield in front of Peggy as several shots were fired in their direction. Peggy pulled out her hand gun.

  
“Steve, what’s going on? Why are some of my own men firing at us?” Peggy shouted over the sound of the bullets bouncing off the shield.

  
“Long story! Short summary, Hydra has its hands under SHIELD. Schmidt’s return has brought them out.” Steve grabbed Peggy and made a dash for Philips and Howard’s jeep.

  
“Hydra double agents huh?!” Philips responded, “Well this just gets better and better. Anything else that could possibly get any worse?” The jeep took another bullet hell.

  
Steve gritted his teeth as he analyzed a new plan of attack, “That gun is the only thing we got against Schmidt, we need to keep firing it at him. It will give me a chance to sweep in and grab that ring off his finger. It’s a miniature tesseract. Without that ring, he can’t regenerate. Grab the rest of your men and go on the defensive. We take out Schmidt, they’ll surrender.”

  
The Colonel smiled wide, “Aye Aye Captain.” Carter and Philips stepped out of cover and fired several shots at the gang of Hydra double agents. Many of their bullets took down several men. A handful of SHIELD agents saw Carter and Philips stand, they rushed towards the jeep to guard their founders.

  
Stark hopped on top of the weapon again. This time he readjusted his target on the several Hydra agents. In a flash of green, 3 men fell to the ground hollering in pain as every muscle contracted in their body, straining and breaking their skeletal systems.

  
With the line cleanly divided now, Steve could take on his opponent. The Red Skull had just finished rearranging all his bones again. He stared Steve down with that same mocking grin.

  
“If you continue to fight, I’ll only make this more…..” Schmidt was cut off with another blast from the Stark weapon. He hollered in rage more than pain this time. He collapsed to the ground again but this time the green light was infused with the growing blue light from his ring. In the blink of an eye, Schmidt had disappeared. A scream from behind made Steve turn towards the jeep. Schmidt had reappeared in front of the gun, a solid body once again. He grabbed the tip of the gun and collapsed the barrel. He shot an annoyed glare at Howard who was aboard the weapon still.

  
Howard stared at him with horror, he didn’t know what scared him more: Schmidt’s ability to teleport or the destruction of their only force against him.  
“I grow tired of your games. I’ve waited 70 years for the moment. Now I wanna see you cry in agony Rogers!” The Red Skull’s face was no longer menacing, he looked dead set on something diabolical. He began ripping the gun out from the ground. Howard scrambled off the weapon and lied in the dirt feeling helpless. Schmidt raised the gun above his head and stood threateningly before Howard. A gunshot impacted Schmidt’s right hand, causing him to drop it on his shoulders. He grunted and let the weapon collapse to the ground. He looked at his injured hand and turned towards the origin of the bullet.

  
Peggy stood firm a few feet away from Schmidt, “Philips, grab Mr. Stark and head for cover now!” Philips abandoned his cover and ran for Howard. He yanked him to his feet and they dashed towards a friendly tank.

  
Peggy fired another round to his head, it left a mark but didn’t stop him. Schmidt turned on his heels and walked towards her.

  
“NO!” Steve screamed from the distance as he ran for Peggy. He threw his shield, aiming for Schmidt’s head. He easily blocked it with his forearm, the shield lodged into the dirt.

  
Peggy emptied her clip on his head but it didn’t stop him. When he was in arm’s length, he reached out with his hand and attempted to grab her. Carter countered with a sweeping kick, but Schmidt followed thru with a fast lounge with his other arm. His red ringed hand clasped around Peggy’s throat, with ease he lifted her off her feet.  
Carter clasped both of her hands around his wrist, she choked and gasped for air. Schmidt turned to Steve who arrived too late.

  
“That’s close enough Captain, one more step and I’ll crush her neck like a twig.”

  
Steve remained frozen in his tracks, his mind raced for a solution but it was all too risky. Not with Peggy in his clutches. “Put her down Schmidt, this fight is between you and me.”

  
Schmidt laughed again, “This is part of the fight you imbecile. I knew friends of yours founded SHIELD. I planned to kill all 3 of them, letting Hydra take their places. But it gets better than that, I’m shocked to discover your connection with this woman. I can’t wait to see your reaction when she dies.”

  
As Schmidt was talking with his head turned to Steve, Peggy snapped off one of her bracelets and wrapped it around Schmidt’s wrist. By pressing a switch on the end of the link and using a downward motion, the bracelet became a razor sharp hot wire. The wire sliced off Schmidt’s hand, releasing Peggy. Schmidt gripped his arm and screamed. Ceasing the moment, Steve tackled him to the ground throwing a series of punches. His head whipped back and forth with each punch. Steve didn’t think it was possible but the Red Skull’s face was growing redder with rage. With a terrible cry, the Red Skull shoved Steve off.

  
The two got to their feet, both panting and feeling a little punch drunk. The Red Skull looked down at his severed hand, and for the first time that stupid smug was replaced with distress. His Cosmic Ring was on that hand.

  
Peggy, who was still coughing from being strangled, held up his severed hand. The Cosmic Ring shimmered in the sun on the lifeless ring finger. The Red Skull cussed in German and made a lunge at Carter. But Steve stood in the way with his shield in hand. He prayed he had just enough strength in him to finally end this. As the gunfire continued to ring thru the air between the Hydra and SHIELD agents, a subtle thunderstorm began creeping in from the north. A distance rumble of thunder was hidden under the gunfire.

  
Steve could see fire in Schmidt’s eyes, he was fuming. The Red Skull was going into a berserk rage. With what might be his last battle cry, he jumped at Steve with his fist in the air. Bone met with shield but Schmidt kept throwing punches with his only fist. He used his wounded arm as a guard. He was much faster than before, more anger behind his punches, more hatred in each step. Steve was running out of strength to block his punches, and he was getting too dizzy from all the smacks to his face. His chest ached from the broken ribs, each heartbeat and every breath rattled the damaged bones. His vision was going in and out of focus, this wasn’t good. He couldn’t pass out now. Rain began to fall as Schmidt continued his bombardment of punches and kicks. Steve couldn’t feel the rain on his face, it was so swollen and numb. His clothes became damp with the rain and they felt heavier. As lightening clashed across the sky, Schmidt jumped in the air again. Steve brought his shield up high for a fist block. But Schmidt faked him out, instead he went for a kick. It was aimed right for his chest. There wasn’t enough time to block him. The powerful blow knocked him off his feet, a spray of blood bursted from his mouth.

  
Peggy watched as Steve fell backwards into the mud. The world felt like it slowed down as her heart sped up with adrenaline. The Red Skull loomed over Steve’s broken body, he got down on his knees and was reeling back to deliver another brigade of punches. In her haste, she got to her feet, her bracelet in her hand. As Schmidt threw his fist forward, Peggy wrapped the tiny wire in front of his throat. With all her might she pulled back, Schmidt let out a screaming gag as the hot wire cut into his throat and syringed the skin. The harder he struggled the tighter Peggy held it against his neck. She could feel the wire’s tension coming closer towards her as it dug thru muscle and then bone. With a sudden snap, the Red Skull had left its body and toppled into the mud.

  
Peggy let out a choked gag, it took everything she had not to stare at what she just did. She threw the lifeless headless body off of her and kept her focus on Steve. His chest was heaving rapidly.

  
“Steve! Oh my god Steve!” Peggy kneeled down by his side. Her shaking fingers fumbled with the chin strap to remove his head piece. She cupped his swollen cheeks. She stared deep into his blueish eyes, the only part of him that was unbroken or bruised. His face lit up when he saw her, she smiled back.

  
“Hi.”

  
Steve swallowed and let out a raspy, “Hi.” He cleared his throat, “So the Stork Club is pretty far from here. Should we take a cab?”

 

Peggy let out a giggle and a contented sigh, this was definitely her Captain. “I know a driver who can take us.”

  
“Good.” Steve attempted to sit up to get out of the mud. His entire chest screamed with pain and forced him back down, Peggy soothed his cheek.

  
“Hold up there big guy.” Howard came rushing towards Steve’s left side. “You just got here, we don’t need you banged up any more than you already are.” Howard pulled out a syringe loaded with some weird blue substance. He stuck it into his left collarbone, “Plus now that you’re here you get to try my new miracle drug. A combo of morphine and fast acting collagen.” He gave Steve a light tap on the shoulder.

  
“Glad to see you too Howard.” Steve said with a sarcastic tone but finished with a genuine smile. It was good to see one of his best friends again.

  
“You two hold tight I’m gonna grab a ride to the hospital.” Howard dashed away towards the jeep and picked up a portal radio phone. As they looked across the battle field, they could see several Hydra agents all lined up with their hands up. SHIELD agents were disposing of weapons and seeing to their fallen comrades. It had finally ended. The rain began to glisten as the sun peaked out between the massive storm clouds. Steve looked back up at Peggy, the sun light casted her in a warm glow. She really was an angel. She stared down at him with those soft hazel eyes. A raindrop or perhaps a tear trickled down her cheek. Steve raised a rough beaten hand to wipe it away, she smiled back. Without really thinking, she craned her head down to embrace his lips once more with hers. They were swollen and cut but still tender and gentle. Steve clasped the back of her head to deepen the kiss, she responded back with a little more force.

  
“Ouch.” Steve pulled away holding his jaw.

  
Peggy laughed and soothed his cheek with a light finger, “Maybe we should hold off doing that.”

  
“Ah but it was worth the pain just to kiss you one more time.”


	2. Homecoming

Captain America: The Timeless Love

Chapter 2 Homecoming

  
The dull sense of sleep is the most numbing places to be in. The time between not dreaming and waking up. As Steve could feel his mind pushing thru that numb barrier to the land of the waking, he was actually starting to feel a bit of anxiety. Had Red Skull’s return been all just a terrible nightmare? Was time traveling just a fantasy of his? Was it too good to be true that he was able to see Peggy again?

  
As he could feel his senses coming back, he could hear a strange ticking of a clock and the sound of distance sirens. The air didn’t smell like his apartment, it was too sterile. Finally he could feel his entire body, every muscle ached and twitched as he slightly shifted awake.

  
“Steve?” He heard a familiar faint voice.

  
He slowly blinked his eyes open, he was greeted with mostly darkness. There was a desk lap illuminating part of the room on his right. He could just make out the women in front of him. He nearly cried again, he couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t all a dream. Everything was real. Just as real as his sore body. Peggy Carter beamed at him with that same smile and twinkling brown eyes.

  
“Hi.” Steve responded. He was surprised how dry his throat was.

  
“You had a restful sleep, didn’t you.” She went to the desk next to the bed. She poured him a glass of water from a pitcher. Also on the desk were a couple of various opened files. Steve scanned the files and then studied Peggy. Most of her usual makeup had faded, she had darkness under her eyes and her hair was pulled back into a pigtail. Most of its usual bounciness had faded too. She must have stayed by his side as he slept, and busied herself with work.

  
“I guess.” Steve tried to clear his throat but it was so parched, making conversation was difficult. Peggy offered the cup up to his lips, he took a few long sips. Just enough to loosen up to talk again, there was so much he had to say.

  
“You were out for about 30 hours,” She said after looking at her watch.

  
“What is the date?” Steve had to be sure.

 

Peggy blinked, “April 24th, 1947. 3:37am. It’s a Thursday.”

  
Steve collapsed his head back into the pillow. He was caught between two feelings, joy and sadness. He was coming home to the era he was most comfortable with, but at the same time he was leaving from a new life. He was leaving the Avengers behind, but he gained his old life back. It was such a weird feeling.

  
“Steve,” Peggy touched his forearm, “How are you feeling? You had taken quiet a beating. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you that injured before. But I am very glad to have you back. We all had lost hope for your return. Even I lost hope.”

  
Steve laughed, “Yeah this is probably the most beaten up I’ve ever been. What do I have, a few broken ribs? Dislocated jaw?” He assessed the tough bandaging around his torso and the gauzes around his head.

  
“Yes, and more. But you are healing very well.”

  
“Still hurts like hell.”

  
Peggy bite her lip, “Well I hope I can keep you distracted from the pain. We have a lot to discuss.” She briefly glanced at the paperwork on her desk.

  
Steve nodded. “How are you doing?” He reached a shaky hand up to Peggy’s collarbone. There was a hand shaped bruise hiding under her collar. Peggy rubbed her neck to soothe the bruise.

  
“Oh this is nothing, its all the damn paperwork after that is giving me the most pain. I’m fine. If anything I feel much better now that you are here, alive and still the same man that I once knew.”

  
Steve furrowed his brow, really? After 5 years of separation? After adjusting to a new timeline? After forming the Avengers? After collapsing SHIELD due to Hydra’s influence? He still was the same to her? “I feared that time had changed me since 1942.”

  
“Well you do look slightly different, its mostly in your eyes. They look…..” She tried to find the right words, “Tired. But I can see they are softening up alittle bit.”

  
“Well after 30 hours of sleep, I hope I look alittle more rested.” They both giggled.

  
After a long moment of silence, they both realized they couldn’t avoid the inventible question.

  
Peggy was the first to speak, “Steve, where have you been all this time? Why did you……” She choked up, “Why didn’t you come back?”

  
Steve cleared his throat, this was gonna be a hard one to discuss. But before he could get a word out, the door to his hospital room opened. Howard popped his head and gave a slight wave.

  
“I don’t wanna be rude, but I’d like to hear this story too. I have my theories, but…” He dug into his pocket and pulled out Steve’s cellular device that he used to communicate with the Avenger team. Howard must have examined this suit and all of his belongings. “The technology and your suit. Everything, from the material to the design is all something beyond our line of technological advances. This isn’t something Russia could make, hell even something I couldn’t make. Maybe I dreamed of making it, but I still couldn’t make it. Where have you been all this time Cap?”

  
Steve, despite his sore chest and back, sat up out of bed and grabbed for the pitcher and glass. This was going to be a tough talk. He chugged down a glass of water. “Well if its 3am, I’d suggest you guys put on a pot of coffee, this is gonna be a long story.”

  
After Howard and Peggy had a hot cup of coffee in their hands and comfortable chairs to sit in, Steve didn’t hold back. He told them almost everything. He told them about the plane crash and how he remained preserved for 70 years only to be found by SHIELD in 2010. He told them about his difficulty adjusting to his new life. He told them about the Tesseract’s reappearance in NYC and the forming of the Avenger team. He talked about Tony, Bruce, Thor, Natasha, Clint, Wanda, Sam and Vision. He told about the fall of SHIELD and how Hydra tried to take over it with Project Insight. He told them about Bucky’s revival as the Winter Soldier. He told them about Project Last Hope.  
Carter and Stark remained silence, maybe stopping Steve to ask for a simple question or requesting a break for another cup of coffee. By the time Steve had wrapped up his summary of the last 5 years, the sun was starting to peak in, color was leaking into the room again.

  
The two stared off into space, their brains struggling to wrap around Steve’s story.

  
Peggy was the first to break the long silence, “Well, before we act upon anything else, I think there are two important issues we must discuss. One, SHIELD has Hydra agents crawling underneath it and we need to make sure to unearth them before anymore damage can be done. Especially if we want to avoid the chaos it inevitably creates in the future as you put it. As well as properly store away the Tesseract and the Cosmic Ring.” Howard nodded. “Two, I must ask you this very important question Steve.” She cleared her throat and placed her coffee mug done, “Since we have the Cosmic Ring and it sounded like you played an extremely important role to this Avenger team in the future, would you want to go back?” She looked at him with unbiased seriousness.

  
Steve paused for a second, he’d be lying if he said that he didn’t need to go back. In the future, he had resolved his pain about leaving behind his old life. He had no choice then. But now he had a choice and it was a very difficult decision. To remain here in the era he grew up in with Peggy and Howard, or to go to back to the future where he was probably needed the most.

  
“No, personally I felt like I’ve already spent a lifetime there in the future. I gave them my life as Captain America. But I think here, with you guys, I can live the life of Steve Rogers. Just a regular kid from Brooklyn.”

  
Peggy placed her hand on her lips, “You’re always so dramatic. Well I hope Captain America can still be available when called into action, Mr. Rogers.”

  
“Of course, it sounds like SHIELD could use a shield wielding soldier.”

  
Howard pressed two fingers to his temple and reclined in the chair, “Plus it would be very difficult to get you back anyways. It sounded like it took a lot of weird engineering and mastery of that Ring in order to execute such an impossible task. Unless you got another 70 years.”

  
“Well technically my body is 98 years old, I’m sure I could squeeze another 70 years out.”

  
Howard jumped as if a thought loaded with a ton of bricks hit him, “Speaking of squeezing out, who the hell did I have a son with?”

  
Peggy sighed and went back to sipping her coffee.

  
Steve shook his head, “I’m afraid if I’d tell you it would mess up the time line.”

  
“No you see, you can’t think of time as like a line. Its more of an ocean.” Howard hopped over to the desk and grabbed a piece of paper and began drawing diagrams, “Time has different branching paths of possibilities, every decision we make has several different outcomes. The one time zone we are in is one of many outcomes that can happen.”

  
Steve shot a smile and skeptic glance over to Peggy, she had the same look on her face as they both watched Howard go off on a time tangent.

  
“Hell Steve you warned us about Hydra under SHIELD, an outcome that doesn’t arise until 70 years from now. We can now create a SHIELD even better than the one you fought for in the future. You’ve created a new ocean of possibilities. You know of wars, assassinations, major catastrophes that will happen in the next few decades. The future that will happen to us now probably won’t be the one you saw.”

  
“Howard, I’m still not gonna tell ya.”

  
Howard shot up his hands, “Oh cmon! Peggy aren’t you curious to hear about your future?”

  
Peggy got up from her chair and began organizing her files, “Well based on your theory about ‘opening a new ocean of possibilities’ doesn’t that technically mean that anything Steve saw has a 50% possibility of really coming true?” She glared at him with a mocking grin. Steve smiled.

  
Howard blinked and pursed his lips. He nodded at that consideration.

  
“Alright then, if you are done philosophizing the concept of time, you and I have some work to do.” Peggy said as she clasped the files towards her chest, “We have a meeting to discuss how we plan to weed out the rest of Hydra. And I have to interrogate 24 of these gentlemen before lunch. If they all don’t try to kill themselves before then.”

  
“Yeah those little Hydra bastards have a habit of committing suicide right before they talk. Luckily that’s why Peg’s in charge.” Howard commented as he began to take his leave with Peggy.

  
Steve swung his legs over the bed to follow them towards the door.

  
“No no no no no.” They both approached him and pushed him back into bed.

  
“You need to take it easy, kid.” Howard said, “Besides its only a boring meeting anyway, we’ll call you back into action soon.” He gave him a light tap and headed for the door.

  
Peggy laid a comforting hand on Steve’s shoulder. “I’ll come back once we’re done. Why don’t you get some rest for me.” She gave him those soft eyes of hers. She leaned down and kissed his lips with careful gentleness. Steve was greeted with the same reliving feeling, it ran across his chest and filled it with a warm gooey pain-reliever. He cupped her face, just to hold on to this feeling. She took it as an invitation to stay longer, she gripped his shoulder.

  
“Ah Peggy if you need a few more minutes….” Howard had been standing in the door way the entire time. “I can stall the guys if you need it.”

  
A red blush crept onto her cheeks, “I…” Steve could see her battling to consider that option. “I’ll be there in a moment. Go make us some more coffee.”  
Howard smiled, and left without another word.

  
Peggy dared for another kiss, she felt like she was being too greedy. “Does it still hurt?” She soothed a finger against his cheek.

  
Steve took the files out of Peggy’s arms and set them down on the desk beside his bed, “It hurts more if you stop.” He cupped her face once again, wanting to draw her nearer.  
Peggy bombarded his lips with hers. She placed one hand behind his head and leaned further into him. She awoke this fire between them that had been sitting idle too long. Steve embraced her to his chest, both arms wrapped tightly around her. The pain from his chest became a minor annoyance as it was been drowned away by this liquid hot fire that filled his heart as he kissed her back.

  
Steve pulled away just to see her face once again. He still found it unbelievable to be here, “You should go to that meeting, start changing the world.”  
Peggy, hesitate to move any further than a few inches from him, sighed, “Yes, I just needed a moment to let it sync in that you’ve returned. But this moment isn’t long enough.”

  
Steve nodded and placed another gentle kiss on her lips, “Well I still owe my girl a dance, I hope that moment can be enough.”

  
“You can’t go dancing, not in the state that you’re in.”

  
“I got 2 days to heal before this Friday, that’s plenty of time.”

  
“No, absolutely not. I will arrest you if you try to leave this hospital.”

  
“Arresting Captain America? That wouldn’t look well for you in the papers.” Steve joked.

  
Peggy finally stood up and grabbed her files, “Well if it was for your own good, it would be worth the paperwork.” She backed up towards the door, “Now behave yourself and get some rest.”

  
“Yes ma’am.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hours went by in that lonely hospital room and the only company Steve got was an occasional visit from a nurse or a doctor. He tried to keep himself busy to past the time, but nothing seem to hold his attention. It was nice to return to the simplicity of just radio and newspaper but he was growing bored and the soreness of chest only became more difficult to block out. The worst part was the fact that he wasn’t allowed to get up and walk around. Noticing his distress, a kind nurse had offered up her lunch break to play cards with him to pass the time. She was very sweet. She had commented that her son was a big fan of his. He had seen his stage performance at least 4 four times and framed every news article about him in the papers. Steve replied that he would be honored to meet him one day once he was better.

  
But sadly her break came to an end and he was left alone again with nothing but the radio and today’s paper. Eventually he gave up reading the same news article for the fourth time and just tried to sleep again. It found him quickly.

  
He didn’t dream, it was just black and empty. Just a restful sleep for his body to recover. At some point he felt the presences of someone entering his room, a nurse perhaps? Light heels clicked over to his bed. He felt the pressure of the mattress bend as the body climbed into bed with him, he smelled a familiar perfume and knew who it was. The body said nothing as it curled up beside him and almost immediately fell asleep on his shoulder. He cradled one arm around her and drifted back into his heavy sleep.  
This time he did dream. He dreamt about a grand vivid ballroom with a big band and a packed dance crowd. Everyone was wearing shades of purple but he couldn’t see anyone’s face. He searched thru the whirly purple of dancers for a familiar face. The big band began to race and pick up intensity. He kept turning around, trying to find her face.

  
Steve stirred himself awake, causing the body in his arms to stir as well. And there she was, from the darkness of sleep to awake to see Peggy by his side. She craned her head up to meet him with her tired eyes. “Im sorry for waking you. I wanted to come see you before nightfall, and I guess I dosed off. What time is it?” She straighten herself up and looked at her watch.

  
“I don’t mind, the company is very much appreciated.”

  
Peggy groaned and rubbed the tension under her eyes, “Its nearly 8am. I still have more Hydra agents to interrogate. 5 of them managed to hang themselves yesterday.” She sighed.

  
Steve rubbed her back, “Peg you should take the day off.”

  
“I should.” She paused to consider it, “I’ll work a 5 hour shift and then I’ll come back for you ok. I promise.”

  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Peggy slammed on the gas of her red Standard Vanguard car. She drove white knuckled all the way up to her apartment at Howard’s Estate just outside of Manhattan.

  
“Damn you Howard.” She muttered under her breath as she saw the Estate in sight.

  
She had finished work early at Steve’s request but was upset to discover that Steve was released from the hospital late that morning. A nurse who was caring for him had mentioned that he was picked up by Howard Stark’s butler and was assigned to “recover” at Stark’s Estate under Howard’s authority.

  
As she pulled into the drive, she saw Ana, Mr. Jarvis’s wife, unloading groceries from her car. She saw Peggy and waved.

  
“Good afternoon Ms. Carter,” Her smile gleamed in the sunlight, “It’s a surprise to see you home so early. I was just out getting some ingredients for tonight’s supper.”

  
Peggy tried to defuse her angry in the presence of Ana, “Yes, well I’ve lost something and I’m here to recover it.” She stormed off into the Estate on the hunt for Mr. Jarvis and her supposed patient.

  
“Ms. Carter, if it is my husband you are looking for, I saw him touring Captain Rogers around our gym physicality.”

  
Oh lord no!

  
Peggy clicked her heels down the main lobby and made a bee line for the Stark gym. As she approached the main doors, she could hear the voices of both Mr. Jarvis and Steve. They were both in the gym’s boxing ring, with their arms up and they were sparring together. Steve was dressed in athletic attire and by the look of perspiration, he had been in the gym for some time. And Edmund was wearing his unusual one piece athletic unitard.

  
Oh good lord no!

  
“What in the bloody blazes are you two doing?!!”

  
The two jumped back and stared innocently at Director Carter who had her hands on her hips. “I run all over the hospital looking for you until I hear that Mr. Stark had transported you back to his mansion for ‘recuperation’ only to find you sparring with no protection gear against his butler!”

  
“M-my ribs have a healed, Howard’s new healing drug…”

  
“Mr. Stark is not a licensed doctor. You know as well as I do that he is not the best of judgement when it comes to looking after people. And you Mr. Jarvis. You drove him all the way from the hospital to the mansion, knowing the state he was in and you decided to spar against him?!”

  
Mr. Jarvis straightened up, “Well Captain Rogers has made a remarkable recovery, looking at his X-rays from this morning it appears he’s made a 70% recovery.”

  
Peggy sighed with discontent, “Mr. Jarvis, please go put on some decent clothes and drive Steve back to the hospital.” Without any hesitation, the butler was out the door, he knew that fury in Peggy’s eyes and he wouldn’t think twice about going up against it.

  
“Peggy, I feel fine.” Steve jumped down from the ring.

  
But she wouldn’t believe him. No man with 5 broken ribs could heal that fast in less than 48 hours. It was just too ridiculous. She walked up to him and placed on a hand on his chest. She was startled that he didn’t react to her touch. She pressed around his pectoral muscle and his upper abdomen. The muscles felt hot and sweaty but nothing felt abnormal. And Steve wasn’t wincing anymore like he did last time.

  
“Lift up your shirt.” Peggy ordered.

  
Steve obeyed; he removed the slightly damp grey undershirt entirely. Peggy stared at his chest, judgingly. She ran her hand over his pecs, there was a very large dark purple bruise along most of his upper chest and it had spread down to tips of his abs. A faint ring of brown encircled the purple bruising.

  
“There you see, fit as a fiddle.”

  
Peggy rolled her eyes, “Yes I see. But I would prefer if you got cleared by a licensed doctor.”

  
A smudge look came across his face, “You’ll have to spar me for it. You know like old times.” During the war, the two of them had this little game they liked to play when they were often partnered for sparring. The spar was only fun unless there were stakes.

  
Peggy removed her hands from his chest and shook her head, “Oh no no no.”

  
“C’mon. I’ll give you the stakes. If you pin me down, I go back to the hospital. If I pin you down, I get to stay at Howard’s Estate and ‘recuperate’.”

  
Peggy glared at him, she rolled her tongue over her right inner cheek with her hands on her hips again. “Fine.” She said smugly. She began removing her high heels. “I’ll just end up putting you back in the hospital anyway.”

  
“Oh ho.” Steve lifted the ropes for her to enter. “I do have to warn you, my last few sparring partners have been a Russian trained female spy and an ex-military combat solider.”

  
“A Russian spy? That sounds familiar. So have I.” She claimed her side of the ring and got into her stance. Steve got into his. The two stared at each other for a second. Peggy’s cocky smile dropped when she noticed that Steve had not put his shirt back on. All the muscles in his torso were tensing up as he anticipated their fight. This would be her disadvantage; he would be distracting to look at. Peggy had to end this fight quickly, she had to just pin him down. Pin down his shirtless tight body down. This was gonna be hard. She had never fought Steve like this before. When they sparred during the war, they were more…..modest.

  
Lost in her own thoughts, Steve took the first move and lunged for a grab. Peggy was almost a hair too late as she redirected his hand away with a quick swipe. If she was more focused she could have just grabbed his wrist and redirected his entire body to the ground.

  
With some added frustration, Peggy went for a brigade of kicks. Steve was able to block all of them. On her last kick, Steve skillfully grabbed for one of her ankles and locked on. Putting her entire body into a roll, Peggy pivoted on her other leg and twisted her leg free from Steve’s grasp. He stumbled forward but regained his footing to counter back. He lunged forward with a few hits and jabs. Peggy could feel his energy as she redirected and blocked each hit. She could tell he was holding back his real strength, but he was fast. She watched as his forearms swiped past her line of vision and then contoured back in to his bare chest for another swing. She could see his entire muscle structure at work, this was getting very dangerous.

  
Peggy had had enough, her heartrate was elevating much too fast, her body was beginning to heat up. It certainly wasn’t from the fight, it was the fact that Steve wasn’t wearing a damn shirt. She was getting too many close calls because she kept ogling at him. If she remembered from her previous victories against Steve, she knew that his weak spots were his legs. She casted her vision downwards and planned her route. She was going to grab his next punch, pull him forward and then sweep her body to the side and trip him with one of her own legs.

  
As Steve went in for his forward jab, Peggy readied herself. She grabbed for his wrist and began to twist her body, but Steve must have saw past her or just applied smarter tactics. Instead he open palmed his hand and twisted his forearm, causing Peggy’s grip to fail. Now she was left wide open. Steve grabbed for her opposite arm and twisted it behind her back. Peggy grunted as she was forcibly jerked around. She could feel Steve pull her in close to his chest. His heaving chest pressed into her back. She could almost feel his heart, a faint beat echoing thru her back and into her own chest. It made her heart quiver.

  
Steve took a step forward and prepared to throw her down for a pin. She wasn’t gonna let that happen. As Steve threw her down, she twirled around fast enough so her back hit the mat first. She soften her landing and sprung off it. She hurled her feet up and kicked straight into Steve’s abdomen. He took a step back, that did hurt a bit. He winced and Peggy noticed.

  
“If you keep this up I’m only going to hurt you more.”

  
“You’re suppose to pin me, not hurt me.”

  
“You’re suppose to be resting.”

  
Peggy ran at him, this time she was using more aggressive force, behind each punch, each kick was a shout. Steve could feel it, she was putting her all to get him down. She wanted to put him back in his hospital bed. Peggy was growing a little sloppy in her anger, she was repeating the same hits. However her power had increased dramatically. As Peggy went in for a flying kick, Steve grabbed her ankle again. He knew exactly what she was going to do next. She was going to spin pivot out of his grasp. With a strong lunge, he grabbed for her thigh of her free leg and pushed her down. She hit the mat ass first and rocked back. She caught herself before she could be open for an easy pin. But Steve’s force was too strong. He released her legs and grabbed for her arm and pushed down on her other shoulder. Peggy groaned in protest. She lifted up her hips and tried to get a leg underneath his chest. But Steve thrusted his pelvis down on top of hers and pinned her lower half down. Peggy was hanging on by a thread, the only point keeping her from the pin was her ab strength. She struggled against his force for a few more seconds. Her fury began to fade as she realized there was no coming out this. She had lost. As her stomach began to tremble from the over exertion, she gave up and she collapsed into a pin with a hard hit. Steve loomed over her, his breath was steady. Peggy panted below him, she groaned at her defeat.

  
“Best 2 out of 3.”

  
Steve shook his head, “No, we’re done here. I’m not the only one who needs rest you know. It’s time you relaxed.”

  
Peggy struggled under his arms, he had her wrists pinned by her shoulders. Steve only applied more pressure and got closer to her face. His chest almost touching hers.

  
“You’re not relaxed.”

  
She flared her nostrils, and sighed with a forced exhale. “I would relax more if you weren’t sitting on my pelvis.” She wiggled her hips underneath his, trying to escape.

  
“If I loosen up, will you stay? You promised.”

  
“I made that promise in the hospital. Where I trusted you would stay.”

  
“Well it seems we both are staying right here than until we’ve reached an agreement.”

  
Peggy swallowed hard, “Fine.”

  
This was getting much too dangerous. Her heart couldn’t relax, it kept racing. She could feel almost every definition of Steve being pressed on to her. From his hips to his torso. Her face became flush as his temperature was radiating off of him and melting into her skin. She could feel moisture collect under his palms against her wrists. She could feel his breath hit her neck and whistle down her collar towards the tops of her breasts. She swallowed hard again. The one part of her body that wasn’t limited was her neck, and Steve was resting so close. Just close enough to kiss.

  
Being sneaky and ambitious, she craned her head up and grabbed for his lips with her own. She could feel Steve jump slightly at her kiss, but as she held it there for a second or two she could feel his body sync into hers. He kissed her back, adding his own force to the kiss. The fire that they touched before back in hospital was dangerously tickling them again.

  
Their lips became hungry for more kisses. Steve slowly sank down on top of Peggy’s chest. His hands moved up and captured her fingers, they interlocked and held firm. She became so overwhelmed with all his pressure upon her that she moaned into their kiss. It was the softest and sweetest thing Steve had ever heard. He wanted to hear it again. He dared to open his mouth and entice her with his tongue. She accepted, it was warm and wet.

  
Peggy’s hips couldn’t help but squirm against Steve’s. Her core was buzzing with energy and demanded for a release from its capturer. But the struggling only made it worse for her, as her muscles grew hot and tender with each touch. His bony pelvis only seemed to electrify her and encourage more resistance. Each little twist of her hips made her moan against his lips, she couldn’t help it, and she was enjoying it.

  
Steve parted from their kiss and loomed above her. Peggy couldn’t imagine how she must have looked at that moment. Her pupils must have been dilated, her lipstick all smudged, her face contorted in between a look of frustration and lust. He stared down at her with his gorgeous blue irises that were hiding behind his large pupils. His breath now matched hers, thick and heavy.

  
Then suddenly Steve starting moving his hips in response to hers. Peggy bite her lip as her body tingled with delight. She could feel Steve’s eyes studying her, those blue eyes. Steve slide his fingers out from between hers and glided them down her palms, down her wrists, her arms, and then down her sides. Peggy’s breath trembled as he teased her delicate skin with his rough fingers. No longer being bound by his hands, Peggy reached up and demanded for his lips back. She pulled his face back down and the rest of him followed. His pelvis slowly grinding against hers. The softness of his lips, his tense muscles holding her close. Peggy moaned one more time, this time much louder and more vocal of how pleased she was.

  
“Ms. Carter?” Mr. Jarvis voice echoed in the gym. The two immediately froze. “Shall I go fetch the car?” He stood in the door way searching for them, he could see the two in a heap in the middle of the boxing ring.

  
Steve rolled off of Peggy and they both stood up, adjusting their clothes and dusting themselves off. Steve retreated to one corner of the ring to fetch his shirt and towel. He discretely removed Peggy’s red lipstick from his face.

  
Peggy tucked her shirt in and fetched her heels, she walked up to Jarvis as if nothing was wrong. “Thank you Mr. Jarvis but that won’t be necessary. Steve Rogers will be staying with us after all. But no more sparring with him please, make sure he is resting his injuries, not rebreaking them.”

  
Peggy stormed off for her apartment before he could put together what he just walked in on.

  
“Oh wait, Ms. Carter. Ana wants a moment with you. She’ll be in your dressing room.” He called after her.

  
Steve walked up beside Mr. Jarvis, he had his towel and shirt draped over his arm, and his arm rested close to his hips. “Are we all set for tonight?”

  
The butler nodded, “Yes, I have made your appointment at the club, Ana has prepared a lovely dinner and your tux is laid out for you in the gallery. Shall I draw you a hot bath Mr. Rogers?”

  
Steve shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck, “No, I’m gonna need a cold shower.”


	3. The First Dance

Steve fiddled with the edge of the cuffs of his tux. He watched the street lamps wiz by, the night life was waking as they drove through the busy city. He kept Peggy in his peripheral vision in the seat next to him. It was odd that he was feeling nervous.

  
He glanced over at Peggy one more time. She was wearing a gorgeous evening dress. A lovely maroon dress that clung tight around her torso but feathered out around her hips. The sleeves barely held on to her shoulders, it revealed her entire collarbone and her tightly pressed line of cleavage. A simple emerald gem hung from her neck, it kissed the top of her sternum. Mr. Jarvis had mentioned that Ana had picked out Peggy’s attire for tonight, Steve was mighty impressed with her choices.

  
He had been staring at Peggy all throughout supper. The knot in his stomach only grew the more they consumed. The dinner conversations with Ana and Edmund did put him at ease. They were a delightful couple. He was almost irritated with Howard for not introducing them to him sooner. He listened as Mr. Jarvis and Peggy held the attention of everyone as they told some of their stories together. It seemed Edmund and Peggy were a fantastic duo together, getting into all sorts of trouble with the former SSR. But once dessert had finished, Steve offered his hand to Peggy to escort her to the car. Mr. Jarvis was already out front with one of Mr. Stark’s finest vehicles. The two didn’t say a word as they drove off. The faint tunes of the radio echoed.

  
“Are you still mad at me?” Steve asked, finally breaking the silence.

  
Peggy stared at him, her beauty casted in the darkness of nightfall. “No,” She smiled, “I kept with my promise and you kept to yours. You’re finally taking me out on that date you promised me 5 years ago. It’s a little silly, but I’m starting to feel like that young girl back during the war.”

  
“I’m a little nervous.” Steve admitted.

  
“About what? About dancing? Don’t worry, I can teach you.”

  
“I actually took a class to learn how to dance, but that was a few years ago……….back in the future.” Gosh that still sounds weird to say out loud. “I was never any good.”

  
“Why is that? Bad instructor?”

  
“My partner most of the time was this little old lady, she was 86 years old. I couldn’t keep up with her, she had been dancing since she was 5. She’d dance me out every session.”

  
Peggy laughed, “You poor thing.”

 

Mr. Jarvis spoke up, “Arriving at the Stork Club, 8 o’clock sharp.”

  
The vehicle came to a slow stop as they pulled in front of their destination, The Stork Club. Mr. Jarvis, in an excited haste, exited from the driver side and scurried over to Steve’s passenger side door and opened it. Offering his hand, Steve escorted Peggy out and the two of them stood on the curb, a nervous couple on their first date together.

  
“I shall meet you two back here at 11 o’clock?” Mr. Jarvis asked.

  
“Actually 10:30 sounds more ideal. I wouldn’t want to keep the Director out for too long when she has work the next day.” Steve winked at Mr. Jarvis.

  
Peggy raised an eyebrow.

  
The two entered into the Stork Club and were greeted with the poppy playing of a Clarinet accompanied by a big band. The club was filled with hundreds of people, all clattered around tables, occupying the dance floor, giggling at the bar. It was hopping place for a Friday night.

  
Peggy pulled on his arm, “C’mon, show me what that old lady taught you.” And the two were off to the dance floor. They picked a spot in the dense crowd of people, all wiggling and bursting with energy from the intense big band led by a single male Clarinet player. Peggy took Steve’s hand and placed her other hand on his shoulder. Steve took it from there, his posture straightened up, he placed his hand on the small of her back and away he went. He spun them around and glided them around the floor in a simple 2 step. Peggy smiled as Steve’s confidence grew and he began taking their dance into more advanced territory. Peggy followed as he jived, he spun her in circles, held her closer with each dip, and not once did he step on her toes. Peggy was a little sad that she didn’t get to teach him anything, it seemed his old dancing partner trained him well.

  
As the song came to an end, Steve slowed down and returned Peggy to his chest. Once the song ended, the room roared with applause for the band. Peggy tapped Steve’s shoulder and eyed the busy bar behind him.

  
“If you are gonna throw me around like that, I’ll need a drink.” Peggy commented as she took one of the last remaining barstools. There were no more empty seats around her, Steve stood comfortably behind her as she flagged down the bartender.

  
“I’m in the mood for some champagne, to formally celebrate your return.” Peggy beamed at him.

  
“That sounds perfect.”

  
The bar man brought them an uncorked champagne bottle on ice with two flute glasses. Peggy swiveled her chair around to face Steve, they clinked their glasses together and took a sip. The champagne was divine, crisp and bubbly with a hint of fruitiness. This bottle was definitely going to be finished before the end of the night.

  
Steve laughed to himself as he recalled a funny tale when he was half way thru his first glass, “When I was explaining the Avenger Team back at the hospital, do you remember Thor?”

  
“Yes, the god like hero from another dimension as you put it. I still have a hard time believing it since he’s just an old fairytale.”

  
“Well the fairytales about Thor are pretty true, including the drinking part. He once brought this liquor that was aged for 1,000 years. He gave me a shot of this stuff, and I believe for the first time since before my experiment, I felt a little drunk.” He finished the rest of his glass.

  
Peggy stared at him baffled, “1,000 years? Well that sounds better than any 25 year old scotch. Perhaps we could invite him over sometime.”

  
“Well all we need to go visit him is the Tesseract to open up a gateway to his dimension.”

  
Peggy paused, “Do you think we could?”

  
Steve laughed.

  
“I’m joking, I’m joking.” Peggy finished hers and poured another.

  
The two continued in giggly conversation. Despite the heavily crowded bar, it only encouraged them to get closer and speak more intimately. Steve’s knees were leaning against her crossed legs as he stood before her seated frame. Her cheeks were growing flush the more she drank, or perhaps that could have been from the heat of the room.

  
“So I want to address something.” Peggy cleared her throat. “What happened in the gym this afternoon was my fault. I was impulsive and rude. Things like that should be done behind a closed door.”

  
Steve smiled, “Yes how very rude of you, it’s a good thing Mr. Jarvis didn’t catch on.”

  
Peggy blushed and hid her face with one hand, “Oh god, that’s the last thing I want Mr. Jarvis to see of me. Of us.”

  
“I’m sure he sees plenty of that already from Howard.”

  
“Exactly, but he sees you and I as……classy, respectable people with more of a humane understanding of social comfortability. It would be demoralizing if Mr. Jarvis would cast me on the same level of Howard’s discreetness towards romanticism.” She shook her head at the thought of it.

  
Steve bite the bottom of his lip, as if he was mustering up some courage, “Well please excuse me if this sounds too frank but,” He placed his glass down on the bar behind her and got really close to Peggy’s face, “I hope that what we did on the ring is something that can happen again, behind a closed door.”

  
Peggy’s lips crossed into a coy smile, “You mean sparring, you want to have sparring matches behind a closed door from now on.”

  
They both giggled.

  
The band began a new song, another jiggy tune. The Clarinetist took center stage again. Peggy placed down her flute glass on the bar too.

  
“Well after sharing a bottle of champagne, I believe I’m refreshed enough for another dance Mr. Rogers.” She stood from her chair and took Steve’s hand.

  
The two made their way towards the dance floor, this time Steve pushed thru until they were in the center of the room. The two held each other and waited for Steve’s lead. He spun them around and they danced in a similar fashion as before. But Peggy was giggling much more this time. Occasionally Peggy would stumble but Steve would be there to catch her. She was growing a little careless as the wine went to her head, and the spinning only stirred her up more. They danced until they started glistening with sweat. Both of their faces were beaming with elation. They felt like they were the only two people on that dance floor. They didn’t know how long they were dancing for. 2 hours or 2 days, time felt like a fleeting meaningless concept.

  
Finally the Clarinetist went up to the mic and calmed down the applauding crowd, “Thank you so much folks. Always glad to return to this little shindig. Now we are gonna calm down the evening for a bit. Gents grab your gals and hold em close. Get real comfortable tonight folks.” He conducted the band into a slow rhythm. Soft and warm with a piano, muted trumpets, a lone bass and a distant drum set. The Clarinetist came in with his romantic gentle tune.

  
Steve and Peggy breathed a sigh and relaxed. Peggy placed her hand on Steve’s shoulder and he pulled her in very close. Their chests pressed together. Their eyes locked.

  
Steve took a deep breath, “So you’re gonna get mad at me again.”

  
“And why is that?” Peggy’s eyes squinted with judgement.

  
“While I was waiting for your return at the Estate…”

  
“Oh is that what you call waiting? Fighting the butler?”

  
“While I was waiting for you, I was meeting Howard and a couple of SHIELD agents at his home office. We were digging thru some of Hydra’s secret files……”

  
Peggy interrupted him again, “You are not a cleared member of SHIELD yet. Not til I get to sign off on your paperwork.”

  
“Well fine then I guess you don’t wanna hear where we’re going tomorrow.”

  
“We? Wait where are we going?”

  
“During your interrogation with Dr. Zola, you were able to get some information about his secret ongoing projects within Hydra. Howard and some of his men were able to track down his old office in NYC with a couple of files on his projects. And one in particular that he helped work on was Project Winter Solider. The file was pretty encrypted but we were able to get a location of the last known lab to house Bucky Barnes.”

  
Peggy was bewildered, “Steve, that’s incredible! So is that what we are doing tomorrow? A rescue mission?”

  
“We leave for Moscow first thing in the morning. I already contacted our old buddies the 107th Regiment.”

  
Peggy was astonished, “You did all of that behind my back, you’re right I am mad at you. You did all of that while I was running around like a mad man looking for you.”

  
“Well I figured you could use a break from the office and get back in the field. Its where you shine the best.”

  
“So it will be just like old times.”

  
“Just like old times.”

  
Peggy leaned her head against the side of Steve’s cheek. Steve’s hand travelled further up her back and he captured her closer to him.

  
They fell into the romantic music again. The clarinet sang thru their hearts and echoed thru their chests. Peggy could feel Steve’s breath whistle against her temple.

  
“Steve,” She whispered. “If we are going to be traveling with the old boys tomorrow, might I make a request that we spend tonight together. We might never get another moment like this for awhile, alone. With the option of a closed door.” She bit her lip slightly.

  
“Are you suggesting we go back to the Estate to end the evening with a sparring match? That’s very forward of you to ask.” Steve smiled.

  
Peggy giggled and glanced briefly at her wrist watch, “We have only 15 minutes left before Mr. Jarvis comes back with the car.”

  
“Well then I guess this is our last song of the night.”

  
The clarinet played them out, blissfully carried them away. And then the song finally ended, the two headed for the door without another word. Mr. Jarvis was right there waiting for them with a content smile on his face.

  
As they headed back to the Estate, Peggy’s heartrate began to accelerate. She grabbed for Steve’s hand. He stared back at her.

  
“Mr. Jarvis.” Peggy never broke eye contact with Steve. “For the next several minutes I implore that you do not turn your head or look in the rear view mirror.” She didn’t wait for a response, she grabbed for Steve’s face and pulled him in for a hot kiss. She could feel his hand squeeze hers and the other cup the back of her head. The kiss made her feel dizzy, like being swallowed by a warm fog. Her mind became tunnel-visioned, and she focused on one thing. Steve’s lips.

  
The familiar sound of the Estate’s gravel driveway alerted them to depart. Peggy tried to muster up what little will power she had left to keep herself proper. Perhaps if she didn’t drink most of that bottle of champagne herself, she would have more ability to focus.

  
The car door was opened by an eager Ana, “Good evening you two lovelies, how was the club?”

  
Peggy took a breath and headed for the Estate’s doors, “Ah crowded.”

  
“Who was playing tonight?”

  
Peggy really didn’t want to do this small talk.

  
Steve answered for her, “Benny Goodman. It was a killer night, Peggy is a very good dancer. But unfortunately we have an early morning tomorrow so I’d think its best we turned in.”

  
Ana leaned into Mr. Jarvis with a contented sigh.

  
Edmund said, “Right the mission to Moscow, I shall drive you two to the air hanger tomorrow morning. Goodnight Mr. Rogers, goodnight Ms. Carter.”

  
They turned on their heels and headed for the lobby.

  
Ana tapped Edmund’s chest, when she knew they were out of earshot, “I’m assuming I’m delivering breakfast to the same bedroom in the morning.”

  
Mr. Jarvis nodded, “Well tomorrow will be an interesting morning. Try not to tease them too much, you know how bitter Ms. Carter is before her morning coffee.”

 

Peggy fumbled with her keys. She couldn’t tell if it was nerves or the buzziness of the champagne that made her hands fiddle with the tumbles. Finally she was able to unlock the bloody door.

  
“Sorry for the mess, its been awhile since I’ve cleaned up.”

  
Upon entering, the best words to describe her living space was an office. There were files, boxes, papers, coffee mugs and pens on top of every surface.  
“It’s not healthy to bring your work home with you.” Steve studied some of the papers.

  
“Unfortunately my office hasn’t been constructed yet, so my living room is my office for now. Come into the bedroom, I have something I want to show you.”  
Steve swallowed hard. He loosened his collar a bit and took a deep breath. Peggy’s bedroom was just how he pictured it would be, elegant but still cluttered much like her living room. She was over by her night stand retrieving a file, she handed it to him and gave him a pen.

  
“I was hoping to show you this after I’d run you thru a few tests and evaluations, but I guess I have to improvise with your surprise secret mission.”  
Steve skimmed thru the paper inside, it was an application for his entrance into SHIELD. It was already signed by her. He noted there were a few check boxes already filled in.

Combat test and SHIELD training.

  
“This is incredible. Do I have to do an interview? Or any additional training?”

  
Peggy smirked, “Well I’m considering your hasty entrance with the Red Skull a combat test and the sparring match that we had to be your SHIELD training.”

  
“You put as a side note here: ‘Needs more training.’ Which for, combat? I remember holding up pretty well against Schmidt.”

  
Peggy moved forward and grabbed for Steve’s hand that had the pen, “The combat is not what you need more training for.” She implied with a soft tone, “If we wanna go on that mission tomorrow, this paperwork needs to be signed. I can’t bring a non SHIELD agent on a SHIELD mission, even if he is Captain America.”

  
Steve obeyed and found a hard surface to make his signature. He finished and handed them back to her. When he returned his eyes back on hers, they were very different. They were large and filled with a warm darkness that Steve had only seen once, back at the gym ring.

  
Politely, Steve moved towards her bedroom door and closed it. “You mentioned you wanted to do some ‘sparring’ again. Is that the kind of training you were talking about?” He gave a half laugh.

  
Peggy threw the file on her dresser and grabbed for Steve’s face, she came at him with such force that she pushed him against the door. Her lips pressed firmly against his. Within that instance, the fire that had been burning since that afternoon was in a full on inferno. This time there would be no interruptions, no publicity, they were behind a closed door now.

  
Their arms held each other close, their hands were grabbing fistfuls of fabric and clasping edges of their bodies. Their lips became smudged with Peggy’s dark ruby lipstick. Peggy’s hands fiddled up Steve’s chest and unclasped his tux’s buttons. She soothed her hands inside to grab for his tie, she started loosening it up.  
Feeling obligated, Steve’s hands went on a treasure hunt along Peggy’s back to find the zipper of her dress. He struggled to find it, the little sucker was tiny. After a few useless swipes to find it, she could feel Peggy tug on his tie and pull him away from the closed door.

  
She led him over to her bed. She stared deeply into his eyes as she bite her lip, Steve could see her mind at work thinking about removing more clothing. She kicked her heels off. She then turned around and pulled her hair up, revealing the key Steve had been looking for, that stupid zipper. With nibble fingers, Steve glided the zip down her back. It was the start of that little zipper that caused a fury of the rest of their clothes coming off. Cloth sliding off, the touch of bare skin, the increasing heat of their radiation, the heighten sense of feeling, and the catching of breath. As Steve tried to get his mind back into focus, he realized he was sitting on the edge of Peggy’s bed in only his underwear. His tux laid scattered on the floor. Peggy straddled his hips and pressed in. Her lace bra tickled his chest. Her kisses were making him drift in and out of blissfulness, but he was becoming aware of just how far this was going. It was becoming painfully obvious.

  
“You know you’re not suppose to bring a weapon to a sparring match right.” Peggy whispered against his cheek. She grinded her hips against his groin much how they danced back at the gym ring.

  
Steve exhaled warmly, “You caught me.”

  
She continued to tease with her hips. Steve’s breath became heavier. His “weapon” that she pointed out was growing stiff. As she worked her hips, Peggy reached around her back and unclasped her bra. She stared down at Steve like an ant under a magnified glass. She loved to see his reaction as she turned up the heat and he began to squirm. His eyes were glued to her bare chest. He cupped both of her breasts in his hands and his hips responded back to hers.

  
“Ok, you are stabbing me and I have to confiscate this blade of yours.” Peggy nibbled on his ear. She then moved off Steve and demanded for him to move up on her bed. Steve crawled back to her pillows. The evidence of his arousal was breaching his boxers. Peggy grabbed for the hem of her panties and slid them down, her eyes scanning Steve’s body at his reaction. She crawled back on to the bed with him. Steve wasn’t gonna lie, the look of darkness and hunger on her face was terrifying and exhilarating. She curled a finger under his boxers and revealed his secret weapon.

  
Suddenly Peggy’s eyes went from lustful to shock as Steve’s dick literally popped out from his underwear.

  
“I didn’t know….” Peggy choked, “Wow.” She held his large member with both hands, sizing up his girth and height. He was large, very large.

  
“Thank you, but you look a little intimidated.”

  
Peggy shot a glare at him and rolled her hips over his dick, Steve clenched as he felt his staff being squeezed by Peggy’s soft naked crotch. “Your size will just make it more fun to play with.”

  
She grabbed for the base of his staff and angled it up to rub against the lips of her sex. With a slow decent back down with her hips, the two became connected. Steve could feel Peggy shaking, her face was giving her away. Her face of domination was replaced with shock again, a pleasant hissed escaped her lips. She froze in place.

  
“It’s too much, isn’t it?” Steve sassed her back.

  
Peggy raised a finger to his mouth, “Don’t you say another word, and just fight me.” She kissed him deeply. Obviously she wanted to drown out his cockiness that was starting to peak. She was on top, she should be the one in control. She gently rolled her hips as he was firmly lodged inside her, very slowly.

  
But Steve fought back, he lifted his hips up off the bed. Peggy jolted with a high pitched moan he had never heard before. She froze up again. He did another sudden thrust with his hips. Her fingers dug into his shoulders and she screamed.

  
“That’s a dirty trick.” Her voice was shaky and higher pitched.

  
“You wanted me to fight back.” Steve smirked and found a rhythm.

  
Peggy was forcibly being bounced, she tensed up and her breath caught in her throat. When she could breathe again, it came out in moans, “I did, but I wasn’t ready for this…” Steve could feel her clenching down on him, her body was trembling in his hands. Any sense of domination was taken away, Steve took the pace now. He grabbed Peggy’s hips and forced them into his rhythm. She melted in his hands as she was exclaimed her enjoyment of each thrust.

  
Within a minute, Peggy seized up into an orgasmic fit. Her whole body tensed up, her voice exhaled this high squeal, her nails trailed down his back. She panted heavily and collapsed her head on to his chest. Steve stopped his hips but locked firmly inside her. He rubbed her back as it heaved up and down.

  
“Good God,” Peggy lifted her head and pushed her hair back, “You bested me awfully fast.”

  
“Maybe you’re the one that needs more practice.” Steve smirked.

  
Peggy lowered her brow, “Excuse me!” They both laughed.

  
Steve cupped her face and pulled her in for another kiss. Peggy responded back. Her numb body was coming back to life after such an orgasm. It was a soft and sensual climb with Steve still erect and firmly inside her. Carefully, he flipped them over and Peggy rested comfortably among her pillows. Being on top of Peggy made Steve realize just how powerful he was, her body seemed tinier and vulnerable.

  
Suddenly her legs came around his hips and he was quickly reminded that this was Peggy Carter he was thinking about. She maybe at a disadvantage with strength but she could make up for it with stamina. She glared back up at Steve with that same darkness and hunger. She bit her lip.

  
“I’m ready for our second match.” She pulled him down for another kiss, “This time,” She whispered, “Don’t stop until you’ve finished.”

  
“Yes ma’am.” That was all Steve needed to hear before he returned to his rhythm. Peggy was prepared for his power this time, she bit her lip in excitement as the waves of pleasure returned. She clamped her legs around him tightly. Steve’s hot breath tickled her face as he stared down at her. His lips curled into a smile with every thrust. He was enjoying himself. Peggy pulled his face down to hers and couldn’t help but kiss that stupid grin of his. Lips touching lips, tongue rolling over tongue, breath mixing with breath. Muffled moans would escape from their throats. Both of them clung desperately to each other’s skin. The growing friction between them became more like a magnet.  
Steve dared to pick up his pace, his power rocked her entire body and shook the bed. Both of them grew louder. Peggy clasped the back of Steve’s head, her nails digging in. Steve’s fingers curled into the bed sheets. The slap of their skin clapped in between their escalating cries of pleasure. They were both so close, they could feel it. Peggy’s body was stiffening up again, her voice had reached that high squeal of pleasure. Steve grunted as he could feel Peggy squeeze him tighter. Within in a few more thrusts he was gonna explode. Steve grabbed hold of Peggy’s hips and rammed in, she saw stars. He slammed two more times into her and grunted as he pulled out and released his load on to the bedsheets.

  
The two collapsed in a heap, panting heavily. Their arms tangled up as they tried to embrace each other and pull the blankets over them.

  
Peggy rubbed a hand thru her hair, “Well I might be sore in the morning.”

  
Taking pity for his actions, Steve lightly massaged her hips, “I’m sorry. I should have been more gentle.”

  
“Well I shouldn’t have kicked you back during that sparring match so I guess we are even.” Peggy laid her hands on Steve’s chest. There was still that massive bruise creeping along his rib cage. It was the only proof that remained of that crazy fight with the Red Skull. The only proof that Steve fought thru time with him and barely escaped that fight with his life. But this would heal, it was only a bruise. Steve’s body was much too perfect to have scars. She scanned the rest of his chest, neck, shoulders and face to confirm, the man’s body was dispelled of any scarring. Just his perfect chiseled skin and features.

  
“It doesn’t hurt much anymore.” Steve continued to rub her back and hips. His fingers studied the dips of her curves, the feel of her skin. He made a puzzling look when his fingers hit a peculiar spot around her stomach. A scar.

  
Peggy winced when his finger fell into the small crater in her stomach, “Gosh, I’m surprised that’s still sore.”

  
Steve adjusted the sheets so he could see the scar with his own eyes. It was a perfect hole on the left side of her abdomen. The scar looked red and recent, like it happened a few months ago, “That must have been painful. What was it? Bullet wound?”

  
Peggy sat up and turned slightly, “I wish. I fell and was impaled by a nasty piece of rebar.” She showed off the exit wound in her back.

  
“When did that happen?” Steve’s fingers lightly touched the scar as if to rub away her discomfort.

  
Peggy waved her hand, “Last summer, it was a very peculiar case with strange interdimensional dark matter, scary actresses and ripping holes in the fabric of reality. Howard can explain that story the best. I’d recommend saving it for the plane ride over to Moscow.”

  
“What about the 3 on your back?”

  
Peggy looked away from him, she paused before answering, “That happened a long time ago.”

  
“Was it during the war? I don’t remember you ever getting that injury before.”

  
“It’s a story for another time.” Peggy snuggled up back into Steve’s chest, “That story is too sad for pillow talk.”

  
“Ok, I can’t imagine how many scars I would have.” Steve went back to rubbing her back. His fingers tread carefully along her 3 scars on her shoulder and the one down her back. It was odd to feel them. Steve never had any, at least none that would last longer than a few weeks.

  
“I envy you there.” Peggy drew small circles along his collarbone.

  
“Well I envy you, a lot of the wounds I received back when I was working with the Avengers they are all gone. There’s no physical marking to show that I’ve fought those battles. Or even the war, I have no marks from those. Only memories. I kinda wish I had the scaring when I fought aliens from another galaxy, or when I took on an army of sentient robots, or the bullet wounds when Bucky shot me.”

  
“Bucky shot you?!” Peggy lifted her head.

  
Steve laughed, “He did, which is why I’m more anxious to find him so he doesn’t shoot me again.”

  
“Well if you want a scar so bad, I could shoot you.” Peggy smiled.

  
“Oh no, getting a scar is painful. I may heal faster than you but I still feel the same level of pain as any normal man. Plus I’d hate to make you mad for you to shoot me again.”

  
“I wasn’t mad at you.”

  
“You were mad.”

  
“Ok maybe pissed off…”

  
“That’s mad, you fired at me 3 times.”

  
“You had your shield.”

  
“What if I didn’t?”

  
“You would have been fine.”

  
“You were aiming for my head.”

  
“Then I bet it would have made an interesting scar.” She smirked at him.

  
Steve curled his lips and surrendered. He reached out for a tender kiss as he admitted defeat. They held each other in a warm embrace as they melted into the blankets.  
“We should get some sleep, we got work tomorrow.”

  
“Yes we do, Captain.”


	4. All Together

Peggy studied the map of the dropzone for the fifth time. The plane ride over to Moscow was a long one, she made best use of her time by being thorough with their location and surroundings. The meet up spot was just north of Moscow in a very dense part of the forest. Since it was April, the weather would be fair, but snow was still present on the ground. She half mindedly scanned the map while the other half was listening in on Steve and Howard’s conversation.

  
They were in the cockpit of Howard’s small plane, Stark had hooks in Steve talking about the interdimensional machine that he constructed last year during the Whitney Frost case. A delighted smile was both of their faces, it humbled Peggy to see her two men together again. Howard had missed Steve just as much as she did, but his absence had been harder on Howard. He wasn’t just a successful experiment, he was his friend, one of Stark’s very few friends.

  
“And so I’m holding on to Peggy as the Chief was being sucked into this black hole. The poor bastard was inches from death but he was still gunning to turn off the switch.” Howard giggled. “So he was able to shut down the machine, and we didn’t loose part of Hollywood.”

  
“You didn’t get any of that on footage, it would have been great for your movie.” Steve joked.

  
Howard snapped his finger, “It would have been, see Peggy.” He turned back towards her, “I told ya we need to have a camera on you. It would have made a great action film.”  
“I hope you are not suggesting reopening a black hole to risk our lives for the sake of making a film.” Peggy folded her map.

  
Mr. Stark paused.

  
“Don’t you dare.” Peggy snapped at him. He laughed.

  
Steve moved out of copilot seat and took his spot next to Peggy. He pulled out his parachute bag and put on his helmet. “We are almost at the drop zone, gear up.”  
Peggy pulled her hair into a single ponytail in the back and buttoned up her thermal black army grade jacket and placed her map into her pant pocket. The two helped each strap into their travel bags and parachutes. Steve helped Peggy tighten up the straps around her legs, she winced.

  
“You ok?”

  
A blush crept up to her cheeks, “I’m fine, just a bit sore from……dancing yesterday.”

  
Steve mouthed an ‘oh’ and gave her a shy smile, “I’m sorry.”

  
“Don’t be, you and I just need more…practice.” Peggy glanced over at Howard to see if he was listening. It was bad enough to be humiliated this morning by Mrs. Jarvis. She had stormed into her bedroom with a tray of breakfast, catching the two off guard and scaring the hell out of them. Peggy had instinctually grabbed for her gun under her lamp and pulled the covers over her nude body. Steve practically jumped out of bed with his fists.

  
Ana was of course startled, “My goodness, it’s just breakfast. I figured since you too are headed to Russia I made you guys some eggs with Kolbasa and Syrniki.”

  
Steve quickly grabbed for his pants that laid on the floor by his feet to cover up his indecency.

  
Ana placed the tray on Peggy’s messy dresser and quickly glanced at Steve with a wink, “Oh don’t be shy Mr. Rogers, there isn’t anything I haven’t seen before.”  
Peggy shot Ana a confused fiery look and then snapped back to Steve who looked helplessly cornered.

  
“Ms. Carter, it’s alright. I caught him by surprise in the showers with a towel. I mostly saw his behind but his front is just as impressive.” Ana poured two cups of coffee and presented them to the baffled bashful naked couple. Ana’s amused smile never dropped, “Eat up now, you two nearly slept in. Mr. Jarvis has your bags already in the trunk.

"Have a safe trip, good luck.” And she left her apartment without another word, just her cute little cheerful giggle of their embarrassment.

  
Peggy pulled on her helmet and tried to get her mind focused on jumping. But damn her cheeks were bright red after Ana had left her bedroom.

  
Preparing for their job, Steve and Peggy readied themselves in front of the hatched door. It was nightfall in Moscow, a faint glow of sun illuminated their path for their jump.  
“Coming up on the dropzone in 30 seconds.” Howard shouted over the rushing wind, “I’ll be waiting to hear from you two over that radio, I placed it in Peggy’s bag. I got a place in Moscow if you need me. Or if you two need a bed to share.”

  
“Howard!” Peggy yelled at him.

  
“What, you don’t think I know what goes on in my own Estate. You guys were so loud last night you shook the whole penthouse. How are you feeling Peggy? You sore?” Howard smiled the smug look that Peggy absolutely despised.

  
“HOWARD!!” They both yelled at him.

  
“Ana’s right, it is fun to tease you two.” The mustached pilot flicked on the red light signaling it was time to drop.

  
Peggy, having half a mind to slap him across the face, just bolted out of the plane. She refused to be in the plane any longer or else she would be humiliated more. Steve fell closely behind her. The night air was frigid and there was a smell of snow. The city of Moscow glowed right in front of them in the far distance. As they rapidly approached the tree line, they popped their chutes. The sudden jerk of the parachute opening caused Peggy to groan out loud, her straps hit all the sore spots at once with that harsh thrust.

  
“You ok?” Steve called after her.

  
Peggy shot him a glare, “You’re really going to ask me that now. Of course I’m not ok.” She hissed.

  
Once landing firmly on the ground, the two bundled up their chutes and covered them up with dead foliage and snow.

  
“Let’s just focus on the task at hand. Shall we?” Peggy kicked some snow on her chute and pulled out her map.

  
Steve, feeling guilty like her bitterness was his fault, stepped forward, “Peg, are you going to be alright?”

  
She didn’t lift her head up from the map, “A little soreness won’t slow me down. It’s just my pride well…..”

  
“Yeah, Howard hit a sour note for both of us. But he means well. He’s just excited.”

  
“Excited wouldn’t be the best word.”

  
“He’s happy and he’s happy to see us happy. We just started something new and we are all excited together. I’m excited. I’m thrilled to be here with you.” Steve touched her forearm, he could feel her easing up.

  
“I am too,” Peggy sighed, “It’s been an overwhelming past couple of days. Last night I felt like I could catch my breath, but you ended up stealing it.” She smiled at him. “When we get Bucky back, and I know we will, can you promise me something?”

  
“Of course.”

  
Peggy bit her lip finding the right choice of words, “Can we just settle down for bit and take it all in? I’ve spent the last 5 years believing you were gone forever, and you…..God I can’t even fathom what you believed in. To think I was still alive at 95, that’s ridiculous. That must have been harder for you to see me like that. Its sounds worse than just believing I was dead.”

  
Steve swallowed hard. He’d never forget the day when he woke up in 2010 and felt that crushing sense of loneliness. That literally everyone he knew was dead, but when he had found out that she was still alive, it broke his heart again. “Yeah, I think we need that. It has been an overwhelming last few days.”

  
Without really thinking it, Steve’s hand reached up to cup her face. He pulled her in close to see those warm brown eyes of hers. They were still as bright as they were that day he returned. Peggy’s hand cupped his face as well. He could still feel that slap she gave him, that little bit of pain was the one feeling ground him to this reality. Even through the weirdness of time and space, this painful liquid fire burning in his face and chest was the one thing he knew was finite.

  
“I do have one question, should we tell the boys?”

 

Steve laughed, “You know them, they can read us pretty easy.”

  
“That’s true.”

  
Suddenly a twig snapped in the distance, it made them both jump. Peggy swung the rifle around to her front and Steve pulled his shield off his back.

  
“Don’t move. Donkey.” Came a voice familiar voice thru the dark thick pine trees.

  
“It’s Mom’s Keys. Mom’s Keys!” A hushed disgruntled voice answered him.

  
“I thought it was Money.” Came another.

  
“That wouldn’t make any bloody sense for a password.” By the sound of it, the voices had them surrounding their right flank.

  
Steve and Peggy looked at each other and lowered their defense. They knew those voices, “The password was Monkey.” Steve called to them.

  
There was a moment of silence as 5 men emerged from the pines. The famous men from the Howling Commandos: Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones, Jim Morita, James Falsworth, and Jacques Dernier. All 5 of them stared wide eyed in disbelief at the sight of their buddy Steve.

  
“My goodness you were able to get them all.” Peggy couldn’t believe James and Jacques were here. The Frenchmen were usually very hard to get a hold of.

  
Dum Dum Dugan stepped before Steve, “Well when we got the call from Captain America directly that he needed our help once more, we all wanted to see for ourselves.” The man with the Bowler hat looked at Steve and then at Peggy. “And I’m surprised to see that it’s my old friend Steve asking me to go on one more mission again.” Dum Dum clasped Steve in for a tight hug and a pat on the back.

  
“Back from dead.” Gabe came in and embraced Steve too. One by one, the Howling Commanders all got their happy reunion with their beloved leader and dear friend.  
Peggy would never grow tired of these moments, these real moments of Steve reuniting with their world again. It was proof that he was really here, not just for her sake but for his friends and comrades. And for the entire world. Dum Dum surprised her with a big bear hug and lifted her off her feet. A big toothy grin on his face.

  
“He’s back! You got him back! WE GOT HIM BACK!! YAAAAAA HOOOOOO!!!”

  
Everyone saddled up and began hiking north of the city. Peggy offered to lead the way as the men dragged behind her. Steve was chatting up the whole way, telling his story to his comrades. The five of them were in awe as he explained that he was never dead but capsuled in ice for 70 years. He told them about the difficulty of adjusting to the new era and moving on from the passage of time. Peggy noted that Steve didn’t linger too much on the sad part of his adjustment, nor did he tell them about her still being alive in 2010s. He skipped straight on thru to his team up with the Avengers and his many strange and awesome missions with them. The boys started laughing at the oddity of his tales. But they weren’t laughing at the strange Gama experiment raging green monster that was the Hulk. They were not laughing at the interdimensional mythical warrior with a mighty hammer that was Thor. They laughed at the fact that Howard Stark had a son and took over the Stark company.

  
“I’d never pinned that man for the settling down type.” Gabe shook his head with a laugh.

  
“I’ve never seen him with the same woman twice. It’s hard to picture him married to one.” Falsworth scoffed.

  
Dum Dum nudged Steve, “Oh wait, hold the horse here. We got so busy talking about how you were a human popsicle and freakin’ time traveled, that we got some news for you. Falsworth got himself engaged!”

  
“Wow,” Steve clasped James’s shoulder, “Congratulations. When did this happen?”

  
Falsworth proudly pulled out a photograph from his breast pocket, on it was a beautiful French woman in a flowery lacy dress. He stared at it with admiration, “Ma fleur de soleil dans le ciel. It was the end of the summer of last year. We hope to marry when I get back as the flowers take full bloom. My Alice.” All the men started patting James on the back and giving him playful jokes about settling down.

  
“We’ll get you back to her.” Steve promised.

  
James looked around at his friends, “Well I guess I could consider this my bachelor party. But it’s missing the scotch.”

  
Peggy turned around and halted the men, “We should turn in for the night, we are about 5 miles out from Dr. Zola’s lab.”

  
Everyone went to work on making camp. Jacques got a fire going, Gabe and Jim provided the firewood. James and Dum Dum dug out some rations for dinner. The group finally together again like old times, it made the night seem peaceful.

  
The five began exchanging stories that Steve hadn’t heard yet, Peggy smiled as the men continued to catch up. This time Steve was listening. She watched him adjacently from the fire.

  
Dum Dum let out a contented sigh, “Well this almost feels right, but we’re missing one.”

  
They all silently nodded.

  
“Perhaps he’s waiting for us.” Gabe said.

  
Peggy pulled out a brown paper bag from her army bag, “Well hopefully this can be the start of things feeling right and for James’s bachelor party.” She revealed a bottle of American bourbon, the men hooted at her.

  
Dum Dum grabbed for the bottle, “Peg, you are my girl!” He took a swig and sighed with content.

  
James grabbed it from him, “Nope, she’s our girl. Thank you Peggy.”

  
“To our girl.” Gabe toasted. The men all raised their cans or canteens.

  
Peggy bashfully smiled at them. “I’m flattered boys, I really am. But if I’m anyone’s girl, I’m his.” She stared longingly at Steve. Well, time to let the cat out of the bag since the bourbon was out.

  
The five boys all looked at Steve and then at Peggy with knowing smiles on their faces. Like they knew this day would come.

  
Jacque took the bottle, “Are you two getting married too?!”

  
Steve and Peggy almost bursted out laughing. Steve waved his hand, “No no. I took Peggy out on our first date last night.”

  
“And you didn’t propose to her on your first date? Hell I would have.” Jim kidded as he took a swig of the bourbon and passed it on. All the men laughed.

  
“He took me out dancing, like he promised.” Peggy took a swig.

  
“And I didn’t step on your toes.” Steve stared at her lovingly thru the flames.

  
“But you waited to tell me about this mission until a slow song played.” Peggy teased.

  
“I thought that was the best time to tell you.” He teased back.

  
Dum Dum groaned, “Oh am I glad to have you two back together again. Why don’t we end the torment, Gabe you have a bible right why don’t we just marry them now.”

  
James protested, “Excuse me, I thought we were celebrating my marriage first.” He chuckled.

  
The whole group laughed until the bottle was a quarter gone. It was just the right amount to drift off to sleep in the chilled night air but without regretting in the morning. Everyone tucked themselves into their sleeping bags and fell asleep.

  
Just as the sun was peaking up on a new day, the Howling Commandos had cleared their camp and loaded up with weapons. It was time to get serious, it was time to get Bucky back.

  
The hike towards their coordinates didn’t take long. They reached the lab a little after sunrise. The dew had frosted over, in casing the old winter’s snow in a crisp iciness. Stealth would be different as their footprints crunched towards the lab.

  
From the distance there was no signings of activity. No smoke, no moving vehicles, there weren’t even any fresh footprints outside. Following protocol, the crew proceeded with caution, weapons drawn and as silent as possible. The building wasn’t much larger than a warehouse, it would be an easy sweep.

  
Steve motioned his team to head in thru the back door of the warehouse. The Howling Commandos rushed all in, guns ready for any kind of surprise. There wasn’t another soul in site. The warehouse looked dark and abandoned. Papers tossed carelessly around, chairs knocked over, tools and machines spilled everywhere. It was like a tornado blew thru this lab.

  
At the center of the warehouse was a strange circular locking mechanism, like some kind of machine use to be connected to it. There were many cables and tubes laying around next to where this missing machine use to be. Steve and Peggy cautiously stepped towards it.

  
“These are intravenous needles,” Peggy noted, “The tubes and cables are connected to some kind of life support.”

  
“Hey Cap!” Gabe shouted from a cubicle, he had a file in hand. “He was here. There’s files with his picture in almost all of these, his name is everywhere.”

  
Dugan lowered his weapon to look as some surgical tools, “Well if he ain’t here, where did he go?”

  
Steve didn’t want to think about what kind of crazy experiments were done to his best friend, “Word about Hydra’s unveiling must have reached this physicality and they all scrambled before we could get to them. But we have the upper hand. The Winter Solider was a very strict covert project, I doubt anyone of our Hydra friends back in America knew of this except Zola. It’s possible that these guys didn’t cover their tracks because they didn’t have to fear being followed. Spread out and look for a paper trail.”  
Everyone went to work reading, decrypting, and interrupting nearly all the files that were scattered around the warehouse.

  
Peggy grabbed one piece of paper off the floor, it had been handwritten in Russian. A familiar word popped up in the letter, “Oh boy, this may lead to a bigger problem but I think this is the start of a good lead.” The boys gathered around her, “This is a letter from a leading member of the covert Russian organization named Leviathan.”

  
“Oh shit.” Dugan rubbed his handlebar mustache.

  
“Leviathan?” Steve looked around confused.

  
This time it was Peggy’s turn to inform Steve of some new information, “Leviathan is just as sneaky and crafty as Hydra. They were founded under order of Joseph Stalin as a deep science and espionage agency. So far they haven’t been as bold as Hydra. They’ve keep a lot of their agents hidden in the shadows. Although last year they stole Mr. Stark’s most deadliest weapons and hypnotize him to nearly wiping out the entire city of Manhattan with a harmful gas.”

  
“Well then.”

  
Peggy scanned the rest of the writing, “This letter is in response to Hydra asking them for help. It seems Hydra was in a desperate attempt to reach out to Leviathan. They are using The Winter Soldier as a bargaining chip.”

  
Steve gritted his teeth, “The Winter Soldier was sent to take out the head of SHIELD Nick Fury by an unknown Russian enemy who had ties with Hydra. I think we are now discovering the small strings that bounded their connection.”

  
“So Bucky is now in the hands of Leviathan?” Gabe asked.

  
Peggy shook her head, “This letter is brief, the last thing that is mentioned is a showing of the Winter Soldier project at some kind of opening. ‘We await to see your progress of this project at the opening.’” Peggy recited.

  
“Well that’s very vague.” Jim rubbed the back of his head.

  
Steve casted his eyes down in thought, a wheel was beginning to turn in his head, “Does the letter have a return address?”

  
“No, but it was addressed directly to a Wilhelm Braunein.”

  
Steve furrowed his brow, “I know that name.” Where had he heard that name?

  
Gabe, Jim, James, Jacques and Dugan all looked at their papers. Dugan shook his head, “No good on names. Apparently this lab didn’t use names, each employee was assigned a number. Much like various Hydra labs we’ve seen before. Hence the covert project.”

  
Peggy placed her hands on her hips, “Then why would Leviathan address this Hydra agent by name rather than by number?”

  
“It could be that Hydra doesn’t want to give Leviathan their numbers, probably not even their base location. They are meeting somewhere else with this project. Perhaps a less covert location than a Hydra science base.” James added in.

  
Peggy tapped her finger to her chin. “So that means Project Winter Soldier is the one string of trust these two very dangerous agencies have of reuniting. Once we rescue Bucky, we eliminate the threat of these two ever becoming friends.”

  
Steve began pacing about. He knew that name, it was on the tip of tongue.

  
“So this Wilhelm Braunein guy,” Dugan scratched his scruff, “He must be the main head of operations if he was the one asking for help. So much so that he used a real name to Leviathan.”

  
Steve stopped in front of a cork board with various fliers on it, some of restaurants, bars, and ski lodges in the surrounding area. Suddenly it hit him. With a confident smile, he pulled off a particular flier of a ski lodge and presented it to the crew, “You guys would never know of this connection. In fact it would be a dead end for you, but that name is familiar to me because there was a Dr. Braunein who ran Project Last Hope.”

  
“The project that brought Red Skull back from the dead?”

  
Steve gave the flier to Peggy, “And transported me thru time. In Dr. Braunein’s file when all Hydra’s secrets were leaked in 2014, it revealed where he grew up and his parent’s family business.”

  
Peggy read the flier, “Kovoland Ski Resort. Grand Re-Opening.” The flier looked brand new.

  
Steve smiled, “The Braunein family owned that ski resort for 50 years until Hydra agents stormed in and killed all of the members of the family except the son. Dr. Wilhelm Braunein was a young genius who was handpicked by Red Skull to work in their science department. His name became erased from all files during the war and didn’t reappear til much later when he took over projects Winter Solider and Last Hope. It would have been like chasing a ghost.”

  
Peggy smirked, “Well, Leviathan and Hydra didn’t count on our time traveling solider. We got the upper hand. We know where they are meeting and when. Wednesday at 18 oclock in Vorkuta, Russia. Ill contact Howard and let him know what we found.” Peggy pulled out her radio and called it in.

  
James pulled out a map and located their desired location, “Well Howard better provide us with a ride and fast. It would take more than a day to travel there by car.”  
Dugan looked at the terrain, “Well there ain’t no roads from Moscow to that tundra region, we’d need a hell of a ride to make that trek.”

  
“Monsieurs! What about an all-terrain vehicle!” Jacques called out from the other side of the warehouse. There had been a tarp over a vehicle. The French man had ripped it off to reveal a hunky storage truck with 4 wheel, all weather drive.

  
The men all smiled and nodded.

  
“That will do.” Steve said.

  
The crew saddled up into the truck and took off. The boys sat comfortably in the truck’s storage while Steve drove and Peggy navigated. The truck drove quiet well in the muddy rocky forest, and performed even better once they hit the snowy region further up north.

  
“At this pace, we should be able to hit Vorkuta by midnight. Giving us roughly 36 hours to prepare before the opening event.” Peggy shouted over the roar of the engine. That was one down side to this truck, the beast had a very loud engine. Stealthing would be impossible in this thing. The entire city would know that a group of Americans and two French men were bargaining in doing some ‘off the records military work’.

  
“Did you hear back from Howard?” Steve shouted back.

  
“He said he knows a way to get us into the ski lodge. He’s booked us a hotel just on the out skirts of the city.” Peggy placed down the map and let out a sigh. It was a contented sigh that she just couldn’t help but let out. “How does it feel to back in action like this?”

  
Steve smirked, “It’s a lot simpler. Back with the Avengers, there was so much advanced technology. Hydra weapons were more dangerous. Media coverage would capture your movements and all of your mistakes. Security over the next few decades gets a lot smarter than just leaving the back door unlocked.”

 

“Well don’t tell Howard, he’ll come at you with a pen and paper.”

  
“He keeps asking me about my damn cellphone. About how a phone can be cordless and behave like a radio. I think it’s unwise to tell him about the future. We gotta keep him focused on our future, SHIELD’s future. I don’t wanna see SHIELD fail, not again. And not in the way I saw it fall.”

  
Peggy admired his devotion, “SHIELD means that much to you. Even if it was corrupted by Hydra, Im sure you still saw a reason to join SHIELD back then………in the future?”

  
“After waking up I joined SHIELD because you wanted me to. The future you. I could see your work in many others at that agency. Your directory was still be recited and respected. Being in SHIELD was the closest I could get to working with you again.” Steve’s voice grew softer.

  
“Good lord, I wasn’t still directing SHIELD at the age of 95 was I?”

  
They both laughed, “No. You retired after 60 years of service.”

  
“That’s a long time.”

  
“However it doesn’t beat my record of being devoted to that ice capsule for 70 years.” He teased.

  
“Well I hope you can devote another 70 years to SHIELD.” She teased. “Of course I would need to rewrite a few rules.”

  
“What rules?”

  
“Well the contract that you signed the other night states that you can’t have a relationship with any of the board of directors of SHIELD.”

  
Steve paused for a second, calling her bluff, “Wait are you serious?”

  
“I’m sure I could write a clause in there.” She grinned.

 


	5. Opening Day

**Ch. 5 Opening Day**

 

 

                The night was pitch black as the loud all terrain truck creepied along the out skirts of Vorkuta, Russia. It was a very small city lying in the middle of a frosted tundra. A faint shadow of mountains lurked behind the city. The glow of street lights casted a sinister orange hue against the snow, the truck stopped just before entering the city limits. Captain Rogers parked the Hydra truck behind an abandoned mill. Everyone exited the truck and headed for the source of the orange glow. They secured their guns and weapons, if they were spotted by citizens they didn’t want to appear hostile. Their goal however was to not be spotted at all as they merged into the empty city.

                “The Red Hen Inn is what we are looking for.” Peggy whispered to her group of men. “We are to meet Howard thru the back entrance.”

                The hardened old snow crunched under their feet. Their combat gear jingled as they snuck between buildings. Their breath visible in the crisp night air, it was much too cold out for anyone to linger around outside. There was an occasional civilian still lingering in the streets. Either a homeless person or a worker starting their night shift. Finally along a main street was a line of hotels with their lights still on. One of them was the Red Hen, the crew moved towards the back alley. Upon approaching the Red Hen’s ominous back door, a shivering figure stood under a street lamp. It was a tall slender figure who was cupping his hands in front of his mouth to keep warm. He noticed the crew and jumped in surprised. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw Peggy’s rosy face.

                “Ah Ms. Carter. Oh how I miss the days of our adventures in Los Angeles.” Mr. Jarvis shivered. He quickly opened the door and let everyone in. The crew was greeted with the delightful warmth of the hotel’s industrial furnace. Everyone could feel the blood flowing back into their toes and fingers. Mr. Jarvis led them to an express elevator that was used for staffing. He rung them up to the top floor. The décor of the top floor could be summed up in one word, elaborate. It screamed Howard. Red carpeted floors, French styled walls and mirrors everywhere.

                “Well this is discreet.” Peggy noted. A very odd place to be hiding a group full of agents running a covert mission.

                “Mr. Stark has rented out the entire floor, you may chose any room for yourself. However Mr. Stark has already claimed the presidential suite for himself. He thought it best to have the floor to ourselves as we plot out our undercover scheme.”

                Steve raised a brow, “Undercover?”

                “Mr. Stark will give you all the details.” Mr. Jarvis opened the doors to the largest room on the floor, the presidential suite. Howard was standing in front of a fireplace pouring himself a glass of scotch while smoking on a cigar. Typical fashion for him. He looked delighted to see the group.

                “Made it here in record time. Nice hustle. Come on gather by the fire. We’ll swap intel.”

Everyone collapsed on the coaches in front of the fireplace, they took off their packs and kicked their feet up on the coffee table. Mr. Jarvis’s nostrils flared as the dirt and melted snow began to stain the carpets and the furniture.

Howard reached into his pocket for something and tossed the object to Peggy. It was a handheld telescope. She looked at him questionably. “Take a look out the north window, building across the street, 7th floor. Balcony.”

                Peggy moved over to the window and looked for what Howard wanted her to see. Across the street was a fancy hotel, much like the Red Hen. There were a few illuminated windows on the 7th floor but all of their curtains were drawn. And then she saw it, on the far right there was a ledge with two people sitting outside smoking with their fur coats on. A man and a woman. The man looked so eerily similar, it almost couldn’t be real. “Who is that?”

                “Those two are going to be at the big opening tomorrow. Now let me ask you something, does that gentleman look like Captain Rogers or what?” Howard smirked.

                Peggy glanced from her view of telescope then to Steve who was cluelessly staring at her. “Eerie. The blonde hair for sure, strong cheek bones and similar build. But with a mustache. Huh.”

                “That gentleman is Eugene Tomly. He comes from a wealthy family of inventors, graduated from Harvard and recently applied to Stark Industries. However I denied him because his family has ties with the former Nazi Party. I had my boys track his movements and how convenient is it that he comes crawling all the way out here to the exact same opening as the one we’re going to.” Howard eyed Steve, “And what’s perfect is that Hydra and Leviathan have never seen this kid before. He’s hoping to coast in with his family’s connections and wealth. He’s a blank slate.”

                Steve glared at him skeptically, “You want me to play undercover monopoly in a room full of Hydra and Russian scientists?”

                Peggy smiled, she actually liked this plan. Going undercover was more her style, “I think I can pull off his escort there. Judging by their mannerism and that giant rock she has on her finger, I think we have our two leading roles casted.”

                Steve looked a little bewildered. Going undercover wasn’t really his best skill. Romanoff back in the day had taught him a few good pointers about being a spy, but it never fit his style. He was a solider a man of action. Hiding under a fake identity and trying to copy their life felt like putting on a new foreign skin. But if Peggy would be his partner for this act, she could hold his hand on this one. He knew that this was second nature to her.

                “Alright then what should be our next move once we’re in?”

                Howard stood in front of the fireplace and poured another shot of scotch for himself, “Well, we are flying in blind here. This is a location we’ve never been to or have anyone the inside. You’ll be surrounded by Hydra agents that will recognize you and Leviathan agents that will recognize her. I’d say the best first move is all reconnaissance. Get comfy at this opening, get a lay of the lodge, find out where they got Bucky. We dress up these fine gentlemen to be your drivers, butlers and shoe shiners. As the evening whines down, these guys go and grab Bucky as you two keep your host distracted. And boom we are out the front door. The opening doesn’t start for another 48 hours so we got plenty of time to hide the real Mr. Tomly and his blondie.”

                Everyone fell into a silent agreement. There was enough time to work out more of the details later. It was a plan that they could sleep on and digest over breakfast and a real cup of coffee. Peggy looked over her team and realized just how untrained these soldiers were about doing a heavy undercover assignment like this.

                “Well I think it would be best for everyone to take a bath and get some rest.” Everyone nodded. It was a quarter to midnight. The crew disbanded and went into their own separate fancy rooms.

                Peggy chose her room on the far end of the floor, to get some of girl privacy away from the boys. Peggy thru her bag down and sighed with discontent at the very décor of her room. It was all too loud and expensive for her tastes. Rich colors, handcrafted furniture and elaborate embroideries. But she couldn’t argue with it since she had been sleeping in dirt and a Hydra truck for the last few nights. She made a bee line for the bathroom and turned on the shower. Perhaps she would feel more comfortable in this room after a thorough relaxing wash. After removing her military grade jumper, she jumped into the steamy hot shower and let out a moan of pleasure. The sweat and dirt rolled off of her. The bitter cold winter melted away from her skin as she was greeted with the warm embrace of steam. She spent a good long time under the hot water, cleaning everywhere.  After toweling off and pulling on a silk hotel embroider robe, there was a knock at her door.

                “Peggy, it’s Steve. I got some files on our two characters we are suppose to play.” Steve’s voice spoke from behind the door. He was oddly very silent, as if he didn’t want anyone else to hear.

                She opened the door, a playful smile on her face, “Ah our script for the opening day.” She took the files from Steve’s hand. As she skimmed the files, she could feel Steve’s eyes linger on her.

                Steve licked his lips, “I was actually hoping we could go over our parts together. I’m not use to playing someone else, let alone a person from upper class. And I know you are way better at it than I am.”

                Peggy opened the door wide, “Well we can’t have our leading star get stage fright.” Steve sheepishly entered the room, he rubbed his hands thru his wet clean hair. He must have just popped out of the shower before coming to her room. His white undershirt was clinging to his damp skin. Peggy took a deep breath and looked back at the files. She looked at Mr. Eugene Tomly’s passport photo and then back at Steve. “I’m gonna have to trim your hair a bit. It’s gotten a bit shaggy for Mr. Tomly.”

                She placed the files on the bed and pulled out a chair. She motioned Steve to sit as she pulled out a towel, scissors and a straight razor from the bathroom.

                “You know how to cut men’s hair?” Steve raised a brow as he sat down.

                Peggy draped the towel over his shoulders and began sharping the straight blade with skilled finesse. “My father developed hand trembles as he got older so my mother would often cut his hair and shaved his face. I learned from watching her, but my father liked it when I cut his hair. My brother however hated it when I cut his hair. He always felt uncomfortable around me if I had any sort of sharp objects.” She laughed to herself. She began eyeing Steve’s head and then compared it to Mr. Tomly’s photos. She set up a plan and went straight to work.

                “I hope I’m not as stubborn in the chair as he is.” Steve smiled at her.

                “Well if you are a good boy, I’ll give you a lollipop afterwards.” The scissors snipped away damp edges of Steve’s hair. It relaxed Steve to have Peggy’s delicate care work away at his scalp, it helped put his mind at ease about their upcoming mission together.

                “So in the file,” Peggy talked as she slid the blades around, “Mr. Tomly was raised in Germany and then shipped away to Harvard. He knows German, French, English and Russian. How good is your German?”

                “Ich mochte mein friseur danken.” (I would like to thank my barber)

                Peggy smiled, “Ahh, bitte.” (you’re welcome) “Russian?”

                “Moy russkiy ne tak khorosh, kak moy nemetskiy.” (My Russian is not as good as my German)

                “Dostatochno khorosho.” (Good enough) “Now as for Mr. Tomly’s fiancé, she is a model. And she only knows French.”

                “Mi amor, je ne parlerai une langue pour vous.” (My love, I shall only speak one language for you.) Steve said with a somewhat playful voice, but it was strangely serious.

                Peggy paused her cutting and couldn’t help but get swept away with just how convincing his French accent was compared to his German and Russian. He got the sweet seductiveness of the words right. It sounded like something Mr. Tomly would probably say to his blond French bride to be. Peggy couldn’t help but fall into the part, “Comme un secret partage entre nous.” (Like a secret shared between us)

                “Je me sens mieux a vous parler comme ca. Au cours de la mission.” (I feel better speaking to you like this, during the mission.)

                Peggy could listen to Steve talk like this for hours, “Well we can safely speak French together at this opening. It would be very uncommon for most gentlemen at this opening to speak French. Hydra and Leviathan don’t really have a good relationship with them.” She went back to work on his hair, using the razor to shape his hair line.

                “Bien.” Steve said with his cocky smile, he could see Peggy growing a bit flustered when he spoke French.

                Peggy stopped and huffed, “Ok do you want me to nick you? I’m trying to concentrate.”

                Steve laughed, “Ok I’m sorry.”

                Peggy worked in silence, Steve remained quiet, but he couldn’t help but smile. Finally Peggy stepped back and retrieved a hand mirror. Steve looked at his reflection and then back at the files, “Wow we do look a bit closer now. Do you think I can grow his mustache by tomorrow?”

                That was the one thing Eugene had that Steve didn’t, a very fine well kept mustache. Peggy waved him off, “Oh we can snip off some of Dugan’s and glue it to your lip.”

                They both laughed. Peggy stood before Steve, her knees leaned into his. She could see how relaxed he had became since coming into her room. During the war, Steve never liked doing undercover missions, even if they were something very simple and brief. Perhaps it was because Steve liked to show off his stripes and stars. He wanted to make sure people knew who he was the moment they saw him. He wanted it to be very clear to his enemies and the people who he was trying to save.

                “We have all day tomorrow to get into character and run over a few scenarios we might face. Luckily Mr. Tomly isn’t well known with these two so we might hardly have to interact with anyone. We just have to look the part.”

                “You mean look like an engaged French couple?” Steve smiled.

                “Oh yes because the air of being a couple seems like something you and I would struggle with the most.” Peggy sarcastically spoke as she placed a kiss on his lips. Steve cupped her face and held her there. It had been awhile since they kissed. Since their mission started, they feared public displays of affection would be distracting and it would honestly get a rise out of the boys. Like they had mentioned before, these kinds of actions should be done behind closed doors. With just the two of them alone.

                They were behind a locked door. In a hotel bedroom. Everyone would be going to sleep right about now.

                Peggy felt greedy and ran her fingers thru Steve’s newly cut hair, pushing him deeper into her lips. Almost immediately Steve responded back with the same greediness as she did. She missed kissing him. It was as if everything stopped in time, just for them to have this moment together. And in this timeless space they could practice the concept of kissing. It never ceased to be a wondrous explosive feeling that welded up in her chest. It made her feel weak and empowered at the same time. She could surrender and merge with this feeling all too easily. The deeper she fell the warmer it got. More drastic impulses would take over before she could even think of them first. The impulse of more; more kisses, more heat, more of Steve.

His free hand grabbed for her waist and he pulled her forward. Peggy obeyed and straddled his hips in the chair. Its wasn’t until her bare skin touched his sweat pants that she realized she was only wearing a silk robe. And nothing else. This one kiss was leading them into some dangerous territory. And she liked it.

                They fell in sync with each other much faster than before, like they had done this fall into passion several times before. There wasn’t a nervous barrier anymore of discovering each other bodies. There was more confident in each move. Steve ran tender hands along Peggy’s bottom and back, giving her a partial massage and firm embraces. He tried something very new, something he hadn’t done to her before. He parted from her lips and began kissing her neck. At first it was soft, he barely touched her skin. Only his breath tickled her neck and her collarbone, making her buzz with anticipation. It then turned to gentle bites and lingering wet kisses. Steve’s kiss trail only went south. His lips past the line of her collarbone to the tops of her breasts. Suddenly that silk robe felt even thinner as warm hands cupped her breasts. She couldn’t help it, it was desperate to come out. A moan escaped her throat. The silk material slid open, the knot on the belt seemed to want to slip away. The robe itself wanted to escape. Steve only took advantage of his new opening and kissed the exposed skin. He looked up at her as he kissed her breasts. Peggy truly was captured in this timeless abyss of ecstasy, falling deeper and deeper.

                A sudden knock on the door made them both jump in the chair.

                “Hey Peg,” It was Dugan.  “There’s a pub still open, and the boys and I were gonna grab a pint. Care to be our leading lady for the night?”

                Peggy stared at the door and then back at Steve, she cleared her throat, “I’m sorry Dugan, but I’m just settling in for the night.”

                Dugan responded, “Ah well it was worth a shot.” He paused, “How about you Steve? Wanna a glass?”

                Peggy and Steve let out an annoyed sigh together, they’ve been caught.

                “Ah, thanks but I’ll gonna pass for tonight. You have fun.”

                There were some muffled bursts of laughter coming from behind the door, there was more than one of them.

                “I knew it.” They heard Jim’s voice.

                “You owe me $20.”

                “I’ll buy first round alright.”

                Peggy flattened her lips into a frown and rolled her eyes with severe annoyance. Well she was up and out of that abyss of ecstasy now. This was only the second time that they were behind a closed door and they were embarrassed by their “friends” yet again. When would this pattern end?

                “Should we go?” Steve asked. Obviously the moment they were having was ruined.

                Peggy huffed, “No, because they’ll properly continue the harassment once we are at the pub.”

                “Should I stay?” Peggy looked into his blue eyes, they were still flowing with deep affection. His eyes were really saying, ‘should I continue?’

                Peggy sighed, “No, well I mean yes, you should stay. We could keep going over our characters if you’d like.”

                Steve nodded, “Ok. Well if I was Mr. Tomly, according to his file he is very much a womanizer as Howard, he would stay with his lovely fiancé instead of going out to the pub.”

                “Oh dear lord, you becoming like Howard? I would be appalled.” 

                Steve gave her a smirk, like he was plotting something, “ Je prevois de rester avec vous ce soir. Dois-je continuer? (I plan to stay with you tonight. Should I continue?) He used that staged persona again. His heavenly French accent. Peggy couldn’t resist.

                “Vous faites mes nuits tres difficile.” (You make my nights very difficult)She found herself once again at the edge of the timeless abyss they were at before. But she was hesitant to go in again, worried that there might be another interruption or if someone would hear them again. But fuck Steve’s roleplaying was making it difficult to decide.

                “Je peux arrester si vous voulez.” (I can stop if you want) His voice grew warmer. His hands, which were cautiously at her sides before when they were interrupted, were now tenderly squeezing her thighs. When his tongue finished his French dialect, he moved to cup her cheeks. “Je serai douce cette fois.” (I’ll be gentle this time) His lips hovered over her collarbone.

                ‘Hello abyss I’m back.’ Peggy bit her lip, he did know how to make this difficult. She couldn’t get her mouth to form another word. Her silence was a confirmation for Steve to continue. And she didn’t protest. Peggy was embarrassed by how fast she was willing to jump back into this again. Like it was an addiction. Steve’s fingers played with the ceases of her hips, Peggy squirmed at those ticklish spots. She found her hips moving on their own again, a stirring ache was developing in her lower abdomen.

                With a steady motion, Steve lifted himself and her off of the chair. He cradled her ass in his hands. The silk robe was barely hanging on her. He gently placed her in bed and crawled on top of her. He moved very slow with studying eyes. Every move he was making was planned out and precise. However each move was all geared towards the same mission, to pleasure not himself but her. He gave her one more kiss and his head disappeared completely from her sight. She looked down to find him kissing his way down her abdomen towards her……..good lord. He placed down one kiss on her exposed sex and it sent her spiraling. She was lost to him now. A sweet hiss came from her lips followed by a moan when he kept kissing it. Soon came his tongue. Peggy’s voice hiked up on the inhale and the exhale came out in trembling breaths. Her entire body was enveloped in intoxicating pleasure. Her brain lost any sense of control. She was at his mercy. Her body impulsively grabbed Steve’s head and hugged him closer to her crotch. Her fingers raked thru his newly cut hair. Her voice repeated the same moans. Within only a few licks, she was at the end of her fuse ready to explode.

                But then Steve stopped. She looked down at him with drunken lustful eyes with a questioning stare. He looked back, he was obviously very amused by her reactions. Like this was some kind of test run. She could see the wheels in his head turning as he plotted his next move. He wanted to watch her reaction to this next part. She felt one of his fingers poke around her sex and then slide inside her. A warm electric pulse ran up from her core and up to her head, it forced her back into an arch.

                She heard Steve giggle between her legs.

“Ne pas arretez” (Don’t stop) Peggy demanded.

“Oui madame.” (Yes ma’am)

 

* * *

* * *

* * *

* * *

 

 

Steve nervously played with the cuffs of his tuxedo. He felt like he was in a familiar situation but under very different circumstances. He was in a fancy car, wearing a high class tux, and next to him sat his gorgeous date. Peggy was wearing a revealing scarlet dress. Sadly her warm brown hair was stuffed under a very bright long blonde wig. She looked like a very striking character, with heavy makeup and powdered cheeks. She certainly looked like a French model, but that wasn’t Peggy. She was someone else. And Steve had to be someone else. The faux blonde mustache on his lip itched. He was always a cleaned shaved man so this hair on his lip was a new sensation.

“About 3 more miles until you’ve reached the lodge.” Steve heard Howard from his inserted ear piece. Howard had stationed their hotel floor to be a hot spot for their radio system. Everyone on this mission was wearing a radio.

Yesterday they were all hard at work getting their supplies ready for today. Lugging the radio up to the top floor without being spotted by hotel staff, that was the hard part. The easiest part was exactly disposing of the real Mr. Tomly and his fiancé. It was really easy to slip them something in their morning coffee, and then hide their unconscious bodies where hotel services wouldn’t find them. Dugan, Jacques, Gabe and James were able to snag a nice set of wheels and clothes for their roles to play as Steve’s staff. Dugan would play the role of his driver, Gabe was his butler and James and Jacques would be Peggy’s. Jim and Mr. Jarvis were stationed with Howard at the hotel.

They were able to snag a nice looking limo with all wheel drive, but it also contained a few weapons and Steve’s shield hidden inside the cabin. Steve felt a little nervous, he couldn’t help but put his Captain America outfit under his tux. He knew his role in this mission was to be a distraction as Mr. Tomly but he had a bad feeling about this. The uniform helped with his confidence. As well as having Peggy close by his side as his fiancé.

Finally they arrived at the lodge. There was a small packing lot of rich vehicles parked in front of a grand wooden lodge. The sky was bright blue without a cloud in sight. The 6 of them exited the vehicle and were greeted with the mountain’s crisp frigid temperatures. An even darker chill ran up Steve’s spine when he saw the various Hydra logo’s on some of the vehicles and a banner waving from the lodge. It was an eerie opening display. They were so far up in the mountains in one of the most remote regions of Russia that these men could present their pride so openingly. They were in the belly of the beast now. Steve snapped at attention when Peggy took his arm. Dugan, Gabe, James and Jacques all tighten up around them. Mr. Jarvis gave them a butler lecture before they left and it was paying off. They all certainly looked their parts.

“Gentlemen, we are in the thick of it now.” Peggy looked around. Many men, both Hydra and Leviathan were crowded around the balconies and doors of the lodge. They all looked so proud to be here. They all felt so safe. “Remember the first step, discreetly locate Sergeant Barnes. And above all don’t drop the act, no matter what. If we are discovered, we will be hopelessly be outnumbered and outgunned.”

“No pressure.” Howard said over the radio, “Good luck.” Together the 6 of them took their first few steps towards the lodge.

“Pret, mon fiancé?” Peggy fell into her character, giving Steve a confident bubbly smile.

“Oui.”

Upon entering the massive lodge, it was very clear who was Leviathan and who was Hydra. The agencies kept themselves separated and they muttered to themselves. The tension between them was very chilling, like the cold temperature outside. This was a room filled with sharks, very dangerous sharks that wanted world domination for themselves. However they both shared the same likeness, they both hated the American government, Captain America, the SSR and especially SHIELD. Getting thru the security was surprisingly easy, Steve only had to mention his fake name, his fake family’s history of being a part of the Nazi party and mention his fake hatred of Howard. The hard part was saying it all in proper perfect German. But the lodge’s butler and staff waved them in. Howard’s assumption on Mr. Tomly was correct. To Hydra, Mr. Tomly was only a big wallet walking into their opening, the perfect disguise.

They were in and safe for now. Now came the hardest part, appearing friendly and sociable to the most despicable people in the world. As soon as Steve and Peggy began blending in with the scene, Jacques, James, Gabe and Dugan began to meander away from them. They stuck in pairs of two and began looking around for any kind of clue to Bucky’s location.

Peggy and Steve stuck close to each other and whispered in French.

_“Do you see Dr. Braunein?”_

_“Not yet, I’m guessing he will present himself in at some point. His entrance back at Project Last Hope was alittle….loud. I would assume young Wilhelm would do the same.”_

The two continued to mingle with the party. Steve was grateful not many people wanted to talk to him, Mr. Tomly was only a young inventor with a lot of money and ties to the Nazis. A few Hydra agents showed some welcoming support to him, which felt very eerie. But Steve was able to have simple decisions with them. The hardest part was keeping up a very high class attitude, like how Howard would talk. It was very foreign to Steve and even more difficult to do it in German. Luckily if Steve stumbled a bit on his words, Peggy would chime in as the dumb blonde French girl, who didn’t understand German, and lighten the mood with her physical charm. Many gentlemen were eyeing Peggy when word was spreading that she was a French model. It was only adding more benefit to their disguise.

“Rogers,” Dugan came over the radio, “We heard word that their grand display will be coming up pretty soon. They want to move everyone into the ballroom for the unveiling. I’m assuming that’s where they’ll present Bucky. We’re getting our team in place around the ballroom.”

“Bien.” Steve responded in French. Peggy was by his side in the bar room, they displayed a bit of public affection to keep the action off of them. Steve took Peggy’s hand and kissed her ringed finger. That was the fine detail of her look, Peggy was able to pry off the engagement ring before leaving their unconscious originals. She claimed it was an important detail to have. The rock on the ring was massive, it definitely said a lot about their relationship. They looked like a filthy rich couple. Steve embraced Peggy close, his heart was racing and he wanted her to feel it. He wanted her to feel that it was killing him to think that Bucky was here in this area and he wasn’t looking for him. It was killing him to put on a fake smile and socialize with these monsters that have tortured his best friend.

“ _We are almost got him,”_ Peggy embraced him and looked around at the crowd of men who were paying them no mind.  “ _Perhaps what we could do is have Dugan get the car ready before the unveiling, and have Jacques kill the lights as Gabe and James……..”_

Peggy cut her sentence off, Steve could feel her tense in his grip. She broke her character and muttered a whispered, “Fuck.” Her stared with horrification at a person standing on the far side of the bar room. A blonde haired woman in a white dress with a sinister all knowing smile. Peggy’s old “friend”, Dottie Underwood. She was looking right at Peggy, smiling at her, looking right thru her.

“ _What?”_ Steve shook her.

Peggy faltered to get back into her character, this was bad. Very VERY bad! “ _Gents we got a wild card in play. Dottie Underwood has made an appearance at this event. She’s spotted me._ ” She tried hard to hide her panic and keep her language in French.

Howard came on the radio, “WHAT! I thought she was long dead to these guys. Why is she back with Leviathan?”

“ _I don’t know, but we better move fast. Everyone, we are all going on a frantic search to find Bucky right now.”_ Peggy looked around to try to find Dottie, but she had disappeared from the bar room. Peggy took Steve’s arm and rushed him out of the room. The two of them tried their best to look calm. Peggy saw an empty office from across, the foyer. She made a bee line for it.

“Who’s Dottie?” Gabe asked over the radio.

Steve and Peggy got in the office and shut the doors behind them. Peggy broke her French acting and went back to English, “Someone who is really gonna throw a wrench in our plans if she tells Leviathan we are here.”

Peggy paced across the floor and rubbed her temple in frustration.

“Should we try to take her out?” Steve suggested.

“No, no! She is a highly trained, very dangerous Russian spy for Leviathan.” Peggy placed her hands on her hips, she hated to admit this, “She is almost as good as me, if not more lethal. Do not engage her. She doesn’t know any of your faces and I’d like to keep it that way.” Peggy’s mind rushed for their options.

Steve ran to the desk and started frantically pulling out drawers to look for some kind of map. This office that they cornered themselves in was a perfect place to regroup. There was a name plate on it labeled Wilhelm Braunein, this had to be his office for the lodge. Maybe it had a clue or a blueprint of this potential lab that Bucky would be in. His hands rummaged every part of the desk and even the shelving behind the desk. His hand snagged a hold of an unusual figurine on the shelves. It was firmly lodged into the wall, however it could be pulled down like a level. Steve yanked it down-wards and the shelving popped open to reveal a hidden door.

Peggy perked up from her frantic thinking and headed for the mysterious door. Cautiously, they peeked thru the door together. A green light came thru and the smell of sterilization blasted them. They jarred the door even further to scan the mysterious room. It was a lab and there wasn’t a soul in site. The air was chilly. Peggy and Steve walked in, scanning the lab quickly. At the far end of the lab sat a frosted tube. It was buzzing to life trying to keep its contents cold. Steve ran a hand over the frost to reveal what was inside. Bucky’s sleeping face appeared.

“We found him.” Peggy reported. “Head to the main lobby and look for a locked office door on the east side.”

Steve stared at his frozen friend. He was still missing his left arm and it was replaced with the robotic one. He looked like the same Bucky that he was forced to fight with back in the future. He only hoped that it wasn’t too late to try and save him. To redo any kind of mind control that Hydra had infused into him.

“We are heading back.” Called Gabe.

“I’ll get the engines hot.” Dugan reported, “You two get out of there and distract. The rest, grab Buck before they put him on display. We’re cheesing it out of here.”

Peggy pulled on Steve’s arm, “Steve, we need to go. If we wanna leave here with him, we need to go.”

Steve reached into his pocket and pulled out a device Howard gave to him. A tracker, he slapped it on the foot of the tube. Hopefully no one would see it. Steve took some careless steps away from his friend and ran back to Peggy’s side. They rushed out of the lab and back into the office. But they froze in their tracks. Someone was waiting in the office there with them. And it wasn’t one of their comrades.

“Hello Peggy.” Chimed Dottie’s sweet voice. She was sitting on the desk, looking very gitty to see them. “Long time no see. Last time we saw each other I believe you had stuffed me in your trunk. But don’t worry, no hard feelings.”

Steve’s fists tightened, he wished he had his shield.

Peggy swallowed, “I’m surprised Leviathan took you back. I thought they pinned you as a failure after your attempts to destroy Manhattan.”

“Ouch Peggy, that hurts. You and I both know just because you fail doesn’t mean you can’t climb your way back up. They wanted me back partly because of you. You and your SHIELD are causing problems not only for Hydra but also for Leviathan. And then they heard you were one of the directors, well gosh, Leviathan was more than thrilled to take me back. Of course I promised them if I was around them, you would soon follow. And lookie here. We’re together again!” Dottie eyed Steve, “And I see you brought your Captain America. Surprise, surprise. We all thought he was dead.”

“Peggy,” came Gabe on the radio, “We got trouble, armed Hydra agents are storming into the lobby.” They had to get out of here before those agents caught sight of any of them. Luckily they still had the advantage of not being spotted yet. Peggy grabbed Steve’s arm and stepped towards their exit. Dottie flipped off the desk and ran towards them. Her arm extended into a punch. Both of them dodged it and took their stance for a fight.

“Oh you’re not going anywhere. I’ve dying to have a rematch with you Peg. And it’s been a dream of mine to go against the Captain.” Dottie squealed in delight.

“Guys, get out of the office now! Hydra agents are coming your way!” Gabe yelled on the radio.

Peggy tensed up her fists. This wasn’t just bad, this was very very very bad.


	6. Closing Night

 

Chapter 6 Closing Night

(this chapter is a long one)

 

 

 

                “Peggy! Steve! You got armed Hydra agents heading your way!” Gabe shouted on the radio. Peggy stared at their one obstacle standing in the way, her old friend/enemy, Dottie Underwood. Her fists were up and her taunting smile was egging her on.

                Steve carefully watched Dottie, then Peggy. They didn’t have time to fight Dottie, they had to escape now or they would have a herd of angry Hydra and Leviathan agents on their ass. He scanned the room for available options. Their front door option was out of the question if agents were coming in any second.  Steve eyed the window to their left. Thinking fast, Steve grabbed for the desk and flipped it at Dottie with one hand. Dottie cartwheeled out of the way and into Peggy’s reach. Peggy threw a few punches. The desk splashed against the wall and shattered the window and its frame. Dottie and Peggy threw each other around the room, kicking, punching and slamming each other into walls. Peggy dodged a kick and allowed Steve to step in for a punch. His fist met her block, but she didn’t factor in his force. It sent her off her feet.

                Hearing loud footsteps coming from outside the door, Peggy and Steve headed for the newly opened window. They were met with the cold frigid air. The window led to one of the lodge’s balconies. It was crowded with agents from both agencies. They looked questioningly at the two of them. They used that moment of hesitation to race off the balcony and climb down the lodge’s scaffolding to the parking lot down below. By the time they hit the ground, the agents on the balcony had drawn their weapons and began opening fire.

                Just in the nick of time, Dugan skidded up with their limo. It appeared Gabe, James and Jacques were already inside as well. They threw the car door open and ushered them in. Dugan stepped on the gas and gunned it down the icy road down the mountain. They were at least 35 miles away from the city of Vorkuta. It was time to book it before two of the most hated agencies in the world would catch them.

                “Stark, you better have a plane ready for us when we get there!” Dugan shouted over the radio.

                “Do you have Bucky?” Howard asked thru their ear pieces.

                Steve ripped his tux off to reveal his Captain America uniform. It felt good to see his star and stripes again, “No. But I managed to put that handy tracking device on his pod. You got a lock on it?”

                “Sure thing kiddo. Its on the move. We’ll get a plane fired up and ready to catch it.”

                “WE GOT COMPANY!” Gabe shouted as he looked out the window. A snowmobile with two riders came to their right side and opened fire with an assault rifle. The crew in the cabin ducked.

                “DAMNIT!” Dugan shouted. They were stuck. The limo could only stay on the paved road which was narrow to start with. They were like sitting ducks on the drive down the mountain if more snowmobiles show up.

                Steve grabbed for his shield and placed it front of their exposed window, “We gotta fire back!”

                Everyone in the cabin grabbed a gun from their concealed locker in the middle of the limo. Peggy pulled off her blonde wig and grabbed for gun. She got behind Steve’s shield and tried firing back at the snowmobile. Within 3 shots, she hit their engine and blew their vehicle.

                “I got 2 more coming on the left!” Dugan shouted, eyeing his side mirror. Gabe and Jacques mounted their sights out the left window and began firing down the snowmobiles before they could fire first. The five of them in the cabin tried to pick off any one coming at them from the sides. It wasn’t the best strategy but it could be enough to get them down the mountain.

                “OH son of...BRACE YOURSELVES.” Dugan shouted as he slammed on the breaks. The icy road didn’t catch the breaking tires. The limo screamed down the road towards a barrier, the lodge’s metal gates had been closed. Two agents were placing barrels and wood around the gates to toughen the barrier. The Hydra agents dashed out of the way as the limo collided with metal, sandbags and wood at nearly 40 mph. The vehicle came to a halt.

                Everyone in the cabin slowly got their bearings when they could hear the sound of snowmobiles coming closer. Steve surveyed his crew. Jacques, James and Gabe were already reloading clips and gathering up any other weapons they could carry. Peggy was pulling on a coat, her revealing dress was not fit for the weather, or this kind of gun fight. She kicked off her heels and put on some winter boots. Dugan stirred slowly from the driver side, he grabbed his bleeding nose and rubbed his head.

                “We gotta get further down the mountain.” Steve ordered and kicked the right side door off its hinges, ushering everyone out. He ran towards the driver side door and rescue Dugan. He was pretty banged up from the head on collision but nothing life threatening.

                “Cap, you thinking what I’m thinking?” Gabe asked as he shot down the two guards that were waiting for them at the gates.

                “We need to borrow a ride.” Steve motioned everyone to get behind the crushed limo as he stood before it out in the open. More agents on snowmobiles rushed down towards them. They began firing at Steve, feeling grateful to have his shield back, he hide behind it against their fire. When the snowmobiles got close enough, Gabe and Jacques came out from behind cover and fired at the drivers. They nailed their targets. The free mobile crashed into the limo. They managed to gun down at least 5 snowmobiles. However more were on their way. Many more Hydra agents on mobiles were gunning right for them. But something else peaked over the mountain, it appeared to be a fast moving tank with snow treads. It was coming down fast with its barrel pointed right at them.

                “Mount up, grab whatever weapons and ammo we can. We gotta race em to the bottom. Once we are out of the skiing area, we should try to cut em off in the woods before we head back to the city.” Steve mounted on one snowmobile, Peggy sat behind him. She was armed with a rifle and had a small hand gun tucked away in her boot. Gabe and Dugan were on one. Dugan was driving, Gabe was his gunner. Jacques and James were on another, James was their gunner. And they were off. They had a good head start on Hydra, but that didn’t stop them from opening fire on them. Peggy, Gabe and James all tried to fire back. They swerved their way down the steep ski paths hoping to lose them. But that tank was going straight, its speed increasing. Peggy watched as the tank’s latched top opened up. A familiar blonde face appeared with a delighted smug. Dottie mounted herself on top of the tank, directing the gunner to aim. Her eyes never left Peggy’s. The tank blasted its first round in a puff of smoke, the tank’s bullet landed just a few feet to Peggy’s left.

                “We gotta take out that tank!” Peggy shouted. Reloading a new clip into her rifle. She aimed for Dottie. The swerving of their mobile made it difficult to properly aim. On top of that, they were dodging the Hydra snowmobiles at the same time.

                “I got an idea! Dugan! Jacques! Keep leading the charge!” Captain Rogers ordered. Without any warning, he squeezed on the breaks. Peggy clutched on to him to avoid falling off. The Hydra agents whizzed past them, too stunned to react to them falling behind them. Soon the tank whizzed past them.

                “Grab the wheel!” Steve placed his feet on the seat and pushed himself up into a standing position. He jumped about 10 feet in the air and landed on top of the Hydra snow tank. Peggy manned the steering of the mobile, she maintained a short distance from the tank.

                Steve headed start for Dottie. He threw a punch her way, she dodged it. She was very agile and fast at moving away from his attacks. She learned her lesson from last time not to block. As she evaded his attacks, she pulled out a gun from her jacket. She aimed it at Steve and fired. The bullet nicked his shoulder pad, Steve lunged and grabbed her shooting wrist. He was much stronger than her and he used this to his advantage. He pointed the gun down into the open latch of the tank and fired at the two Hydra agents inside, both in the head. The tank was no unmanned and uncontrolled. Steve slammed her hand down on the tank’s metal surface, dislodging the hand gun. She growled in frustration. She swung her legs up and suddenly she had her legs around his neck. Her hands captured his head, ready to try and twist his neck. Steve got his footing and thought of the only way to knock her off. He fell backwards off of the runaway tank.

                “STEVE!” Peggy shouted as she watch the two bodies tumble into the snow. She reached out and grabbed his extended arm. The jerking force of holding his massive body at such a high speed nearly popped her arm out of place. She grunted as she held on to his forearm. Steve struggled to get back on to their snowmobile. Once he was secured, Peggy steered away from the tank and tried to catch up with the rest of their crew. Dugan and the rest were much further down the mountain. They had successfully taken out many Hydra snowmobiles, very few remained.

                Steve looked back to see if there was any more coming. But when he turned his vision around, he pulled his shield off his back and blocked both himself and Peggy. Dottie had survived her fall and had mounted on a Hydra snowmobile. She fired at them with an assault rifle. Many bullets ricocheted off of the shield, but some impacted the engine.

                “We can’t out run her!” Steve shouted. “Head towards the far left here, off the ski path!” Steve held up his shield as they were bombarded with another round of bullets. His shield wasn’t big enough to protect himself, Peggy and the engine from Dottie’s shooting spree.

                Peggy took a sharp left and headed off the ski path and on to some dangerously thick snow. Dottie followed. Trees were now an obstacle. Peggy skillfully swerved between the thick pine trees, kicking up a lot of thick fluff snow in her wake. Dottie kept firing but the trees provided a nice cover.

                Steve checked behind them, they were gaining some distance from her. But then there was a new problem. Because of the thick snow fall and the two mobiles were kicking up the ground, it was causing an avalanche to form. It was trailing behind Dottie and gaining on them fast. It was only small section of snow that was tumbling, but it was now expanding and becoming a monstrous puff of white behind them. Dottie’s driver was in a panic as he tried to speed up away from their frosty death.

                Peggy turned her head back to see their incoming doom. She swerved heavily to the right in hopes to get back on the ski trail and potentially lose the avalanche. But Dottie kept giving them bullet hell, preventing her from turning right. By turning the snowmobile, it had exposed their right side. Many bullets impacted the engine. It began to putter and smoke.

                Steve looked back at the avalanche and then at Dottie. It was almost upon her. He had a plan but it was gonna be a rough one, “This is our stop! We’re getting off!”

                “OFF?!! ARE YOU CRAZY?!” Peggy shouted.

                When Dottie was caught between reloading a clip, Steve grabbed for Peggy and jumped off the snowmobile. He jumped as far right as he could go. He tucked the shield underneath his butt, and clutched Peggy into his arms. When the shield impacted the ground, it acted as a slid. He was able to steer them back on to the ski trail but the avalanche and Dottie were still following them.

                She proceeded to fire, the bullets impacted the snow behind them. They were close within in her range. Steve stuck his hand in the snow, scraping up his hand to keep the shield going right towards the ski path, all the while dodging trees. But the further down they were going, the rockier the terrain got. Making steering much more difficult and even harder to get back on to the ski path.

                There was a scream from behind them, followed by the sound of a crash. The shooting stopped, but the avalanche kept following. Steve kept steering right, hoping to get out of the avalanche’s path. After several painful minutes of guiding his hand in the snow, they finally came to a spot where the avalanche couldn’t reach them. The mountain was less steep now, meaning they must be close to the long tundra stretch back to the city.

                Steve placed his feet down in the snow and they came to a grinding halt in the dense forest. They panted as they checked their surroundings. There were no sounds of snowmobiles, or gun fire. The avalanche had stopped. Peggy and Steve looked at each other and gave a relieved chuckle. Steve hissed when he took his steering hand out of the snow, it was raw and bloody but it wasn’t too serious. Peggy cradled his hand, it was dripping with blood.

                “Well that was a wild ride.” Steve got himself and Peggy back on their feet. She wobbled a bit as she planted her boots in the snow. Steve retrieved his shield, but he paused. The inside of his shield had a pool of blood. A lot of blood.

                “Steve.” He heard Peggy’s faint voice. She suddenly leaned all of her weight on him. That blood wasn’t his. It was hers. On her right thigh was a bullet wound pouring out blood. She stained the white snow with red under her feet. A bullet had hit a main artery and she was bleeding out fast.

                “A stray bullet from Dottie must have impacted me. I didn’t notice.” Peggy clutched on to Steve.

Steve acted fast, setting her down in the snow. If he didn’t stop the bleeding, she was going to bleed out and die. Peggy angled her leg up for Steve to work on it. Thinking quickly he yanked off his belt and wrapped it around her thigh and pulled tight. Peggy hadn’t felt any pain before, but she certainly felt it now. As Steve squeezed her wound, she let out a sharp scream. She could feel the bullet was still embedded into her leg.  

                “I know Peg, hang on.” Steve cooed her gently between her grunts of pain. “This is only temporary until we get you back to the city.” He finished fastening the belt. It would have to do for a quick patch up. He lifted her in his arms and retrieved his bloody shield. He started to head back towards the ski trail but he stopped. Looming over the blue skies where dark storm clouds.

                “Howard!” Steve called on his radio.

                Only static.

                “Dugan, James!” He cried even louder.

                “Gabe! Jacques!”

                No response.

                Steve clutched his teeth and began to break into a sprint. He would run all the way to the city if he had to.

                “The approaching storm must be cutting off our radio signal.” Peggy looked at the dangerous skies. “That storm is coming up from the south, it must be hitting the city right now. I hope the boys made it back to Howard in time.” She bounced in Steve’s arms. Each bounce sent more pain shooting down her leg. “Steve, we can’t run into that storm. We’ll freeze before we get there. Its 30 miles away, maybe more.” Peggy tried to throw in the reality of their situation. This was a very very bad. Right now the temperature had to be -10. Once that storm hits, the temperature was going to drop even further and they’d be buried in snow and ice.

                Captain Rogers stopped and desperately looked around, what should he do? Where were they suppose to go? Shelter? They needed a shelter. The trees would not provide good enough cover, the wind would chill them and it would be hopeless to make a fire. A cave? Steve couldn’t see any, they had approached the tundra area. The closest cave would be up the mountain, but who knows how long it would take before he found one. That storm was coming in fast. They had roughly 20 minutes before it would hit them.

                “Steve.” Peggy yanked on his collar and pointed outwards at an odd structure. Stopped behind a boulder was the Hydra tank from earlier, the one that was trying to kill them. Steve raced over to it. The tracks were firmly lodged into the boulder. Perhaps when it was screaming down the hill, the boulder was the one thing that stopped it. The tank was wrecked, it wasn’t going anywhere. But it would have to do for a shelter. The cabin was still intact. Perhaps if they kept the top open they could build a small fire inside, like a tipi. The top was still open, as Steve peered in he noticed the two dead Hydra agents were still inside. Before Peggy and Steve were to call this new tank their home, they had some cleaning to do.

                Steve placed Peggy down in the snow. He noticed just how bad she looked. Her face was completely white, the only color was on the tip of her nose and her cheeks as her body was fighting against the cold. She only had a thin dress, boots and a winter coat to keep her warm. Now that the adrenaline from their battle was wearing off, the cold was knocking her down. Her body was trembling, her teeth were chattering and she moaned in pain. Steve placed his Shield in front of her, hoping it could at least protect her from the growing wind. He quickly went to work pulling out the dead bodies from the tank and also cleaning up any blood. Luckily there wasn’t much. The inside of the tank was small but there was definitely enough room for two people to lie down in. There were small cubbies and containers with some supplies. Even a med kit. Perfect.

                By the time Steve had finished, the storm had hit. The snow came down sidewise as the wind blew. He rushed Peggy inside. Her body felt even colder than before, and her eyes were beginning to flutter. She was fading fast. Within the tank’s supplies was also a wool blanket. He wrapped her in it, but the slight movement caused the wound in her leg to open again. The wool became stained with her blood. Steve grabbed for the med kit and began tending the wound, adding more pressure with the belt. Peggy screamed again.

                “We have to get the bullet out!” Peggy said thru gritted teeth.

                “You already lost too much blood.” Steve tightened the belt. The bleeding was slowing down.

                “I’ll die from lead poisoning before I die from blood loss.” Peggy’s hand grabbed for the med kit. She saw a pair of metal tweezers. “The bullet needs to come out.” She threw the tweezers at Steve. He was not going to like this. He hated to hear her in pain. He adjusted the belt further up her thigh and tightened more to stop the blood flow of her artery. He tried to work fast. He grabbed a flashlight from the tank’s supplies and illuminated the wound. It was deep. He could see a metallic piece lodged in there.

                “Take my hand.” Steve extended his left hand to her, “Squeeze hard, this is gonna hurt.” This was his scrapped up steering hand, it was still shredded and bleeding. Peggy took his hand and squeezed firmly. She felt the tweezers going in, a surge of pain came forth. She tried not to scream and remained as still as possible as Steve worked. The metal dug deeper into her leg, hunting to snatch that bullet. It took Steve about 5 minutes to pull the bullet out. To Peggy, it felt like 5 hours. She was shocked that Steve showed no signs of pain from the squeezing of his left hand. Once the bullet was out, it started bleeding again. With skilled bandaged work, Steve plugged up the bullet hole with some gauze and tightly wrapped it clothe. He adjusted the belt once more to put pressure directly on the wound. He looked up at Peggy, she was fighting off tears. She breathed a sigh of relief that it was over, but she still felt an immense amount of pain.

                Steve cupped her face and wiped away her pain filled tears. He sweetly kissed her head. It felt so cold to his lips. He had to make a fire right away. If they wanted to wait out this storm, they had to stay warm. “I’ll be right back, I’m gonna try to find some dry wood for a fire.” Peggy nodded. She looked so tired and fragile.

                He had to work fast. He jumped out and was greeted with the frigid wind and icy temperatures. The snow pelted him instantly. He may be super human and have a stubborn core body temperature, but this was extreme even for him. He ran into the woods with his flashlight. He grabbed as much as he could, from small kindling to large dry logs. Luckily some dead trees in the forest provided a great source of wood. With arms full of fuel, Steve rushed back inside the tank. He was shivering and wet. He turned to see how Peggy was doing, what he saw surprised him.

                Peggy had managed to yank out the tank’s communication modem and was tinkering with its internal wires. In her hand was her ear piece that they used to communicate with Howard. She had linked it up to the tank’s radio and a cord phone. Even with a severe injury, there was no stopping her.

                “Quick get a fire started,” She threw a pair of matches and a booklet at him that she found in the tank’s supplies. Steve went to building a starter fire with pieces of paper and small dry sticks. Peggy went back to the radio, “The battery in the tank is still working, I’m trying to match this radio to our frequency. I hope this one has more range than our tiny blasted Stark-made ear pieces.” The two were hard at work for almost an hour before they made any progress. Steve had a small roaring fire going and a stack of wood ready in a corner of the tank. Peggy had finally managed to tap into their frequency.

                “Howard, come in Howard! Howard, it’s Carter! Answer me damnit!” Peggy had yelled into the radio’s phone for the hundredth time. The other ninety-nine times she tried that, she got nothing but static. But for this hundredth time, she finally heard a voice.

                “Peggy?! OH thank god!” Howard had answered. “Are you ok? Where are you? Is Cap with you?”

                “Yes yes,” Peggy smiled and banged her head against the tank wall with relief, “Steve and I are alive. We got caught up in the storm. We have taken shelter in a Hydra tank.”

                There was a pause on the radio, “Well that’s a bit ironic that Hydra tech saved you guys.”

                “Did the boys ever make it back?”

                “Hi darling.” Dugan answered, “We hit that storm hard and kept riding til we reached the city. You two provided a good enough distraction for us to escape with. Was that avalanche intentional?”

                Peggy giggled.

                Steve took sat next to her and grabbed the phone from her, “Listen guys, our situation is rough. Peggy’s been shot. She’s lost a lot of blood. We have a fire right now, but this storm isn’t showing signs of slowing down.”

                “The storm has us trapped in the hotel.” Howard’s voice came on again, “The city is also swarming with Hydra and Leviathan agents. They are trying to locate us. I’m sorry, but it looks like you guys have to survive this storm on your own.” Howard’s voice sounded hurt.

                Dugan responded, “We’ll try to find an opening to use that Hydra truck to come locate you guys. We’ll call you if there’s any updates.”

                “Call us every 15 minutes to make sure we’re ok.” Steve replied. That response frightened Peggy.

                Steve and Peggy let out an exhale together.

                “Well I’m glad, we had some food at the opening before all of this.” Peggy tried to lighten the mood. She hugged the blanket up to her chin. The fire was warming up the interior a little bit, having the latch open provided great ventilation for the smoke. But it was still too cold for a human body to survive more than a few hours in these conditions. She wasn’t going to last very long, she could feel it. She was wearing a thin dress, no pants, a light coat and now she had a blanket. She had lost too blood, her body wouldn’t be able to keep her alive and keep her warm from much longer.

                Steve shifted towards her, he began unzipping his uniform. “Come here.” He opened up his thermal shirt to expose his bare chest. He pulled her into his lap and hugged her tightly. He shuttered once her face made contact with his pecs, “God Peggy you feel like an ice cube.” He wrapped the blanket tightly around her, making sure that she was being warmed on all sides. With the fire hitting her back, and Steve’s impossibly warm body embracing her front. Peggy clung to his chest, he felt like the hottest thing in the world. She pressed deep into him, hoping to transfer his heat into her. It was working.

                “You feel like a roasting fire in a log cabin on a cold winter’s night on the English country side.” She muttered into his breast letting out content sighs. She nuzzled her cheek against his collarbone. If she wasn’t in deep peril, she would love to fall asleep like this.

                She hummed with delight as she felt Steve’s hands rub her back. For a long time they sat in silence, with nothing but the roar of the fire and the wind hitting the tank. It had been so quiet between them that Dugan’s call on the radio startled them.

                “This is your 15 minute wake up call, you guys still alive?”

                Steve grabbed for the phone. He looked down at Peggy’s face. There wasn’t much change, she was still bone white. Dark circles were starting to form under her eyes. “Thanks Dum Dum. Situation normal. How are you guys holding up?”

                Peggy could see the tiny look of fear in Steve’s face, he knew she looked bad. He was trying his best to hide it from her. But she was so close to his heart that she could hear the truth. He was terrified for her. Situation was not normal. It was getting worse for her. The pain was not as intense as before. In fact her leg was starting to go numb. She couldn’t move it, not even alittle bit. That was not a good sign.

                “Situation normal here, we got our supplies ready to roll once we get a window of opportunity. Call you again in 15.” The radio went quiet. And then it was back to silence.

                Peggy was sick of the silence. It was a dead silence.

                “It happened about a month after we lost you.” She spoke softly against his pec.

                “What?” Steve straightened her up so he could see her face. He hugged her even closer. Her body still trembled.

                “The 3 scars on my shoulder. You wanted to know how I got them. It happened towards the end of the war. The SSR was called to help American forces to take Germany. Our unit was small and we were all too exhausted after our battle with Hydra. However it was even harder to work with the American forces. We were told to keep your death a secret from them until it was all over. As Colonel Philips puts it, ‘That is the American golden boy to ending this war. He may not be here fighting with them, but let them believe he is.’ We had marched into Weimer, Germany. We were not prepared for what we stumbled upon there.” Peggy took a moment to swallow as if recalling a terrible sight.

                Steve knew exactly what she was talking about, “You were part of the American team that liberated the first Nazi concentration camp.” Steve hadn’t known about the Nazi’s secrecy with the concentration camps until getting a crash course about it from SHIELD back in 2011. It was appalling to learn about it. He couldn’t imagine what she had seen firsthand of those horrible camps.

                Peggy continued, “The Buchenwald. Most of the German forces had fled the camp. But some had lingered to destroy the evidence of their harness deeds. We marched into that camp. Every warehouse we opened was the same, it was piled with so many bodies. Men, women and children. It was impossible to move forward thinking there was any hope left of saving anyone. Until finally I opened a shed where some survivors were hiding. They were mostly children. They were frightened by me, I had to put down my rifle. I repeated ‘You are safe’, in all the languages that I knew. They eventually calmed down. One boy came up to me, a little Jewish boy.”

“He asked me ‘Is Captain America here?’” Peggy stopped once again to swallow away some tears.

                “I said ‘No, he sent me to come get you.’ But before I could even take another breath, a German soldier had returned to the shed. He saw me first, with my back turned and shot me, three times. I was able to retrieve my rifle but not before he shot down 3 children in that shed. One of them being that little boy. After that I don’t remember what happened next, one moment I’m in that shed, the next I’m in a hospital in London. Apparently Dugan had found me and rushed me to medical. He told me that I was crying the whole time, from Germany to London.”

                Over the course of Peggy’s story, Steve found himself grasping Peggy’s shoulder tightly. He should have been there. He should have been there for those suffering people when liberating the concentration camps. He should have been there for the millions of people that died by the hands of the Nazis. He should have been there when Peggy was shot. But, he was here right now. He was with Peggy. She was wounded and he was with her now. He was here. “I’m glad you told me. I love your scars.” He kissed the top of her head, “Because I can’t have them, I wish I could. I would gladly take your scars away.”

                Peggy let out a laugh, a mixed between a sob and joyous outburst, “Maybe not all of them.”

                “The scar on your leg will look pretty cool.” Steve rubbed her even more.

                “Well right now its not a scar, it’s a festering wound that’s threatening my life at the moment.”

                Steve put another log on the fire and hugged her even tighter, “Well I’m still fighting to keep you alive. Stay with me ok.”

                “I’m starting to miss that stupid elaborate hotel.” Peggy admitted.

                Right on time, Howard called them on the radio to check up on them, “Things aren’t looking so hot for us here. We can see Hydra agents busting down doors at neighboring hotels. They might come for us next. We might go silent for a bit as we hide.”

                Steve replied, “Roger that. Stay safe.”

                “You too.”

                Then there was silence again. Steve continued to rub Peggy’s back to keep her warm. He was beginning to feel cold as well. The temperature maintained its negative decent. Every log he was placing on the fire wasn’t enough to combat the cold. His back and butt where growing ice cold being in contact with the metal tank. If he was moving around, he could get proper circulation.

                “Steve.” Peggy cut the silence. “Make love to me.”

                Steve couldn’t believe what she just said. He tensed up, “What?”

                Peggy stretched out a hand and cupped his cheek. Her hands were freezing. “Friction. We need friction.” She began rolling her hips in his lap as best she could. Her body felt so stiff and limited to movement. Her eyes casted that same heat back when they were at the hotel and back when they made love for the first time. It was the only part of her that had color to her.

                It sounded crazy but it made sense. Steve placed his hands on her hips and controlled her movements. Her entire chest pressed into his. He kept them rubbing in a slow rhythm. But Peggy was grabbing for more. She pulled him down on her lips, they felt chapped and cool. But the inside of her mouth was still wet and a little warm. Peggy hungrily ate his tongue and lips, like she was sucking the heat out of him. Her movements became more aggressive as she hungered more for his heat. Like she was fighting with what little strength she had left to gain some heat. Her hands reached down his hips, peaking some fingers down underneath his pants.

                Steve jumped when he felt Peggy’s icy hands touch his staff. She stopped all together.

                “Hang on.” Steve had to adjust this better. He took off her blanket and laid it down on the floor. He cradled her close as he laid them down. He squeezed himself firmly down on Peggy.  His hands roamed very part of her body. No matter where he went, she felt cold. He tried massaging her breasts, her inner thighs, her stomach with his meaty hands. He prayed that his efforts would return some heat to her. His fingers worked her way down to her core. It was the one spot that felt warm.

                “Steve. Put your fingers inside me, like you did back at the hotel.” Peggy begged him.

                Using his good right hand, he played with her sex. Peggy bit her lip in response. She was trying to hide a moan. It was a relief to Steve to hear her hiding a moan of pleasure rather than a moan of pain like she had been for the last 2 hours. He stuck one finger inside her, she couldn’t help but let that cry out. Something so warm being plunged inside her. Her moan was a combination of excitement and relief.

                Steve frowned. Her insides felt cooler than the last time he did this. Peggy was truly freezing from the inside out. He had to reverse this, he had to insert her with more heat. Growing frantic, Steve unbuttons his pants and pulled out his erecting penis. Without giving her so much as a warning, he firmly lodged his entire length into her. She let out a surprised ‘OOOhh’ which was then met with a heavy delighted moan. His massive hot dick filled her up completely, like a furnace warming her from the inside. Peggy clamped down on him expecting him to never leave her like this. In his warm embrace, his soft lips on hers, his arms wrapped around her tight, his chest melting into hers. Very slowly Steve thrusted into her, much like how he was rubbing her before, it was a slow stirring motion. The friction between them was enough to light a match. Peggy grew much more verbal, each thrust into her was marked with her moan. Steve had never heard her moan so much. She was loud, excited, and breathy. Her body trembled with delight, her internal muscles tightened around his cock, pressing them together in a hot embrace that kept pumping. Peggy clawed at his shoulders, demanding for more warmth. Her good leg wrapped around his waist, pulling his crotch in closer. She wanted him so close that they could absorb together and become one entity of sex and fire.

                “Peg, I’m about to…” Steve tried to free himself from her grip. He was on the edge.

                “No, you stay inside me!” Peggy demanded, but it came out as more of a desperate beg. A plea. One more thrust was all it took and Steve ejaculated into her. His hot semen filling up her insides. She gave a loud cry as her entire body, for a split second, felt warm and bubbly with pure pleasure. Steve was feeling much warmer now after moving around. Peggy’s temperature was improving but this would only be a minor break from her dangerous state of emergency.

                Steve let out a breath and then giggled to himself, “I think this might be the weirdest spot we could have ever choose to do this.”

                 “Well when desperate times call for desperate measures.” Peggy giggled back, “I’m feeling a little better. I just hope we have enough wood to last us throughout the rest of this storm.”

                “Yeah, I’d rather not be frozen again for another 70 years. And I think it would be weird if SHIELD found us like this.”

                Peggy burst into laughter and snorted. She imagined the absurdity of that image. Although it sent a chill up her spine, to be frozen for 70 years. She wondered how Steve felt during that process. Was it quick? Slow or much like falling asleep? Peggy batted her eyes. Now that she was feeling less cold, sleep felt like a wonderful thing.

                Steve’s hand cupped her cheek, “Hey, you have to stay awake Peg?” He said sweetly.

                Peggy gave him a playful pout, “But I feel so much warmer now.” She tightened her embrace around his torso. “Just 5 minutes.” Despite his protest, she shut her eyes. Steve wrapped her back in the blanket and secured her in his arms and lap again. Letting Peggy sleep for a few minutes sounded peaceful. It did feel less cold in here. Perhaps the storm was dissipating finally. Resting felt like a good idea, at least until Howard would call them again. It would only be for a few minutes. Just a few warm moments of rest.

* * *

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                “S……….ss.eve………………..ssSSS.eeve……………..STEVE!” Captain Rogers battled to open his eyes. They felt so heavy. Someone’s voice was calling him over the radio. It was Dugan. He had to answer.

                As he opened his eyes he thought he had gotten blind for a second. It wasn’t until he realized that their fire had gone out. Hot embers remained on the tank floor. Panic struck through Steve, how long had he been asleep?! He tried to move but his limps ached. They were all stiff and cold. He could see his shaky breath materialize in the crispy air.

                “P-Peggy.” His first thought was her. He looked down in his arms. She looked just as he had left her, she looked like she was asleep. But her lips were greyish blue. Steve shook her shoulder. No response. “Peggy!” Steve cried out, his voice was dry and hoarse. “PEGGY!” Still no response. He cupped her cheek, she was ice cold. He felt around for her pulse, a faint murmur of a heart beat was the only signal of hope for her.

                This was very very bad!

                Steve frantically reached for the radio phone to answer Dugan. “I’m here! How long has it been?”

                “Christ Steve!” Howard’s voice came on followed by the rest of the team all shout relief on the other end.

Dugan’s voice said, “We’ve been calling you for the last 20 minutes. We finally have our window. The boys and I are in the Hydra truck and we are coming for you two.”

                20 minutes! He had been calling for 20 minutes? That’s not nearly enough time for their fire pit to just go out. He had been asleep much longer than that.

                “W-when was our last radio call? You guys had to go silent. How long ago was that?”

                “Steve……….that was an hour ago.” Howard answered.

                The weight of that hit Steve like a ton of bricks. “The storm?”

                “The storm is still brewing.” Dugan said.

“How is Peggy doing?” Howard asked.

Steve paused, “We need an immediate evacuation. She doesn’t have much time.”

 “If you could make a fire or find a flare, we’ll be able to spot……..AGGHHHHH!!!” Dugan howled over the radio. There was the sound of an explosion followed by angry shouts and gunfire.

                “Dugan!” Steve cried.

                “Dugan?!” Howard shouted on the radio. “Crap, Hydra agents must have spotted their stolen truck.”

                “Dugan? Do you copy?! Dugan!” Steve felt his body go into flight mode.

                “That crazy blond is back! They are firing at us! We haven’t even left the city yet!” Dugan grunted over the radio.

                And now this is even worse!

                Steve had to act now. Their rescue wasn’t coming and the rest of his team was in peril with god knows how many agents on their tail now. And he didn’t know if Peggy could be saved at this point. Adrenaline pumped through this body and his mind went into peril mode. He placed Peggy’s cold body down and he leapt out of the tank. He had to get this tank running again. It was the only way, its battery was still intact. The storm blew harshly against his efforts as he jumped in between the tank and the boulder and gave a shove. Slowly the tank backed off of the boulder. There was some exterior damage to the cabin of the tank, but the major damage was the tracks. One of them had been dislodged. Steve had to shove it back into place. He placed his shield in front of his right shoulder and backed away from the tank. Getting a running start, he collided with the track and shoved it back into place with brute adrenaline filled force. The track clicked back into place and there was a popping sound that came from Steve’s shoulder. He had dislocated the joint. But he couldn’t let that stop him. He climbed back into the tank and stared at the dense cabin controls. After smashing as many buttons as he could with his able left hand, he got the monster to turn on and the tank jointed forward. The Hydra tank made a harsh clanking sound as the broken tracks screamed at high power. Steve jerked the machine at full throttle and headed directly south.

                “I’m coming in hot guys. Keep the fire fight going until I get there.” Steve said on the radio.

                “What?” Howard stammered on the radio.

                After only 20 minutes of driving, he could see the city’s lights coming from his tiny view finder. The tank bolted through the snowy tundra and stood strong against the storm’s harsh wind. As he was getting closer, he could see several Hydra vehicles and tanks lining the streets. Several were in motion chasing one lone Hydra truck.

                “Dugan I got you in my sights. I’m coming to help. Howard where are you?”

                The two were dumbfounded. Howard answered, “Jarvis and I were able to move the radio signal to a private air hanger. We got an airplane ready and running.”

                Steve set his sights on The Howling Commandos. He merged in with the other pursuing Hydra vehicles. The Hydra agents didn’t seem to notice him as he swerved through them until he was in between The Howling Commandos vehicle and Hydra.  “Still got Bucky’s signal?”

                “Yes.”  
                Steve could see Dugan’s face in the side mirror of the truck, “Steve what are you doing?”

                Captain Rogers kept the tank running at full throttle. He stepped away from the controls, scooped up Peggy with his left arm and grabbed for an explosive with the other. “Bringing the fireworks.”

                Steve leapt out of the tank and threw the explosive in the tank. The tank exploded and became a fiery barricade in front of Hydra. Steve tucked and rolled as he landed, his dislocated shoulder and back taking most of the impact of the fall. Dugan stopped the truck, and the boys jumped out and ran for Steve. The tank provided a good barrier for them in the narrow street, but they had to move fast if they didn’t want Hydra and Leviathan to follow them towards the air hanger.

                As soon as Steve saw his crew approach him, his adrenaline wore off and exhaustion hit. He could barely get on from his knees. Peggy’s cold body weighed down his left arm. His vision started blurring and the shouts of his comrades became muffled. Gabe and James took Peggy from him. Jacques and Jim pulled Steve up to his feet and tried to shove him into the truck. Once everyone was secure, Dugan slammed on the gas and headed for the air hanger. Steve was rested down the truck bed, Peggy was laying down beside him. She was still as before with pale skin and blue lips. Steve’s vision began to black out as he heard the growing sound of an airplane engine.             


End file.
